Duped
by marcelb
Summary: Crichton was captured when they destroyed Scorpius' Command Carrier (Into the Lion's Den) and replaced by a bioloid copy. (Complete)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**  
  
**Rating:** PG  
**Setting:** Directly after Promises.  
**Spoilers:** Up to and including Promises.  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own it, don't make money from it.  
**Notes:** This part was un-BETA-ed. The other chapters are all BETA-ed by the wonderful Ixchup. This is my first writing attempt.

* * *

He wasn't sure where he was, how he got there and why his head felt as if it had come into contact with a brick wall, apparently followed shortly by his entire body. He tried to sit up, but that seemed to make things worse. God, even his toe nails were hurting. With a sigh he laid back down, deciding it would be better for now to try and figure out what happened.  
  
The last thing he could clearly remember is getting out of his module, followed by Scorpius, as Crais voice came over the speakers, signaling the beginning of the Carriers destruction, and then a complete blank. Well, except for some pointed thing being put in his neck and Harv screaming he was going to die just before all went black.  
  
John tried to assess whether the neural clone was still around. He was unable to sense him so maybe he was finally rid of him. "So the good news," John thought, "is that Harvey has finally left the building. The bad news is that I seem to be captured." John also realized his bracelet was missing. He assumed that Scorpius had it removed because he didn't want to suffer the same fate as John.  
  
"I see you are awake. It is so good to see you again John," Scorpius' voice came out of nowhere. "Yeah, I'm real happy for ya," John replied. "I take it you want my insurance company to pay for the damage to your vehicle but were afraid I would run before we could swap info" he asked sarcastically.  
  
"John, John, John. I see you still possess that lovely sense of humor I have come to… dislike so much," Scorpius answered. "I must admit you are difficult to obtain and even more so to hold. I was very impressed with how you and Moya's crew where able to destroy my Command Carrier." Scorpius finally moved to a position where John could actually see him. "You may have thought you destroyed all wormhole data, but you underestimated my foresight. Every solar day all wormhole data collected were sent immediately to a remote location. Nothing was lost, except maybe my… trust in you."  
  
John snorted to that. "It surely took ya long enough. I certainly never trusted you. So what's the deal here? You gonna keep me here and hope I will solve your wormhole puzzles?" "Oh, I know you will solve them for me. You see, I'm quite positive the clone will be able to take over your consciousness and divulge all your secrets to me."  
  
"Huh," John thought, "he doesn't realize Harv is gone. This is good." He looked at Scorpius and said "you do realize my friends will come looking for me?" At least he thought they would.  
  
"On the contrary," Scorpius replied, "they have no reason to come looking for you."

"And why wouldn't they," John asked.

"Because they see you every day," Scorpius replied. "Let me give you an update on your life. Did you know you were unconscious for over three monens? In that time, you all parted ways. For some reason you, or a duplicate of you, got separated from Moya while in your Farscape module. When I became aware of your predicament I had rescued by an old and dying Leviathan. You have been rejoined with the Dominar as well as the Nebari girl, found D'Argo on Arnessk, witnessed Grayza kill a duplicate of me, and returned to Moya to find Officer Sun present, as well as a duplicate of me."  
  
"That duplicate is probably no longer alive either," John replied, "If they saw you get killed on that planet they will know the one on board is a duplicate. They will soon figure out that I'm not me either."

"Again, you are wrong, John. You see, Officer Sun has had a … little accident which lead to her being infected by heat delirium. Luckily, my duplicate found her in time and was able to help her out by giving here a cooling suit. He proceeded to ask for asylum aboard Moya. Officer Sun granted it and had your friends, and especially you, promise to not harm me. Also, my duplicate had a satisfactory explanation of my… rise from the death."  
  
John needed a little time to let that sink in. "So, they believe I'm alive and well and I would accept not killing you? No, the guys wouldn't be that foolish…" John trailed of hesitantly. "Of course, if Aeryn would have asked me I probably would have done the same. So maybe they would believe it. Ah, crap, this sucks big time!" John thought.  
  
"I think I'll let you rest for a while. When you are well rested, the neural clone will find it easier to control your mind and body. Do not think that when you have rested you can control the clone. I have taken precautions to minimize your control." At that, Scorpius left the room.  
  
"Come on guys, don't let me down. I know you can figure it out sooner or later. I just hope its sooner." He was starting to feel better. He wanted to stay awake, ware out his body and mind so Harv wouldn't be able to take over so easily. Of course, if the neural clone was gone, which John was starting to doubt, it wouldn't matter, although John didn't like what precautions Scorpius might have taken to minimize his control. He was just too tired to stay awake, and soon fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 1: Strangers in the night

The small red, white, and blue DRD silently cruised the hallways of Moya. It was the middle of the sleep cycle and 1812 was bored. He was not part of Moya's own DRD crew and could not even communicate with the Leviathan or her helpers. With his human asleep, the servo-robot continued his lonely patrol passing through the crew quarters and on to the more secure tiers. Counting the prison cells, he blinked his eye stalks and registered the holding pen of the one called Scorpius.  
  
The little DRD was aware of the fact that John Crichton did not like this creature at all. To the surprise of the little drone, Scorpius was talking to someone. This was strange as the DRD was fairly certain nobody was awake. Hiding in a service duct near the cell, 1812 proceeded to record the conversation, planning on replaying it to the human later.

* * *

**  
Mid-Day on Moya**  
  
D'Argo met up with Chiana as she strode purposefully down the tier heading upwards towards Pilot's Den. There was something fekkik going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it.  
  
"Chiana!" D'Argo called out, halting the Nebari in her tracks as she tilted her head sideways and upwards, gaining eye contact with the taller Luxan. "Where are you going? I thought I told you that there was an amnexus burst on Tier 3 that needed repairing."  
  
"I was gonna get to it soon, D'Argo. I just-just have something I gotta do first," Chiana responded as she turned again towards her destination. Chiana's arms angled sharply from her body indicating her level of anxiety. "I just want Pilot's opinion on something."  
  
D'Argo sensed Chiana's unease and since he also felt the atmosphere on Moya had taken a turn to the cold and dark side, he couldn't disagree with her decision. "Okay, I'll go with you. I too would like some answers."  
  
Chiana spoke as she pushed on ahead, her thoughts turning to the real reason she felt uneasy and wanted Pilot and Moya's calming presence, "I just don't trust that frellnik, D'Argo. You know what he's like. I just know he is going to hurt Crichton again. We can't allow that, we just can't!" D'Argo sighed. He knew the Nebari girl cared very much for their friend and would do anything to protect him. Truth be told, he did not like the fact that the Scarran half breed was on board either and also feared for John's safety.  
  
"Chiana, you know I don't trust Scorpius anymore than you do, but I don't think there is much we can do about it. Aeryn has vouched for him and John, though not happy about it, has allowed him to stay aboard as well. We placed him in a high security holding cell and Pilot has put a permanent DRD in place to guard him so there is nothing he can do without us knowing about it."  
  
"I don't know, D'Argo. All I know is that I have a feeling that trouble is coming and dren-face will be behind it." D'Argo's words did not mollify Chiana in the least. She was still very worried about Scorpius being so close to John. First thing she would do would be to check with Pilot and Moya about Scorpius' behavior. Next, she would talk to Aeryn about getting the man off of Moya. Chiana sighed, asking herself why Aeryn didn't realize what having that brain-sucker on Moya was doing to John, and how dangerous this was. Sure, Scorpius had saved her life, but why hadn't she considered the fact that Scorpius might have had something to do with that heat-delirium inducing virus in the first place? John had been hurt enough recently, what with her leaving him and even more recently with the encounter with that tralk Grayza.  
  
D'Argo and Chiana arrived at Pilot's Den. "Pilot," D'Argo's voice boomed, "I trust Scorpius is still being watched by a DRD and has not tried to escape or contact anyone?" The gentle symbiote, initially startled by D'Argo's voice, resumed his multitasking motions. Still, he seemed a little nervous as he looked alternately to D'Argo and Chiana.  
  
"Ka D'Argo, Chiana, I had not expected to see you before first meal. As for your question, Ka D'Argo, Scorpius has not done anything beyond what could be expected of him in this situation." Pilot was secretly pleased he was able to answer the question without lying to the crew. It did not diminish his nervousness, however. Neither D'Argo, nor Chiana missed the apparent discomfort of the symbiote. Before either of them could ask Pilot about it they were interrupted by a comms signal.  
  
"Yo, D, Pip, got ya both some nice food cubes for lunch. Come get them while they're hot." D'Argo shook his head at Pilot and shrugged his shoulders at his human friend's confusing call. Discussions with Pilot would have to wait since neither he nor Chiana wished to arouse his friend's suspicions. Waving goodbye to Pilot, D'Argo palmed his comms in response to his friend and pushed Chiana out of the Den and towards the Center Chamber and Second Meal.

* * *

In the galley John was preparing everyone's tray. He had awoken early this morning, unable to fall asleep again because his mind kept wondering about several things.  
  
First, there was the fact that Aeryn had returned affected by a virus-induced heat delirium with his nemesis in tow. Scorpy being so close was not making John feel very comfortable. He was sure the black-clad specter had something to do with the virus in the first place so as to gain access to Aeryn and subsequently Moya and ultimately himself.  
  
Then there was the situation with Aeryn's pregnancy and her apparent reluctance to tell him about it or even to talk at all about her "summer vacation" away from Moya.  
  
The third thing that kept his brain spinning for hours, as it had for nearly every day since Scorpy's Carrier was destroyed, were the wormhole equations. He was now pretty certain he could locate a wormhole and calculate the time it would open up. He was unsure why new knowledge seem to be coming to him while he was sleeping, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. It probably had something to do with the fact that during sleep, his subconscious was in charge of his brain. He shook his head again at how all of these random thoughts seemed to crowd his mind. He bent again to placing red, yellow, and green food cubes on each plate. If he couldn't make them taste good at least he could arrange them in pleasing patterns.  
  
His plan today was to talk to his friends to see if he could pursue his search. He figured that since Rygel was acting captain, his best shot was to get the little slug on his side and food was definitely the way to go if you wanted to persuade the dethroned Dominar.  
  
D'Argo and Chiana entered the galley and Chiana immediately went to Crichton and gave him a small hug. "Hey old man. How's it going?" John chuckled a bit and kissed the top of her head.   
  
"I'm OK, Pip. How are you and the big guy? I couldn't help but notice you were in the same location when I commed you. Something I missed?"  
  
"Nah, we, we were just checking with Pilot if Scorpius was still being watched." John noticed the Nebari girl lost a little of her exuberant behavior. He assumed it was because D'Argo still didn't seem to be able to forgive her for her betrayal with Jothee, although the presence of the Scarran half-breed just few tiers below might have something to do with it as well. John was well aware of her protectiveness towards him.  
  
"According to Pilot, Scorpius has not done anything out of the ordinary during the sleep cycle." D'Argo told his friend. At that moment the whine of Rygel's throne sled preceded his arrival in the galley.  
  
"D'Argo, may I remind you that I'm the captain of Moya for the time being and that I should be the one to check on these matters." Without missing a beat, the little Dominar continued "Ah, food," and proceeded toward the eating table.  
  
"The only thing," D'Argo said to the Hynerian, "you seem to be checking is if there is enough food to fill your three stomachs; you probably hadn't even thought about checking on Scorpius' status at all until it was mentioned."  
  
"Scorpius will not harm any of you and I think it is wrong of all of you to imprison him," Sikozu said as she entered the galley, followed closely by Aeryn and the old woman. "Scorpius has requested someone bring him some food," the Kalish continued.  
  
"Tell him to keep his panties on. He'll get some food when we're ready and if Sparky here hasn't eaten all of our daily rations by the end of lunch," John answered. He noticed the puzzled looks from the crew after his remark about the panties, except for Aeryn, who's mouth was definitely showing signs of becoming a smile. Then there was Rygel, who just kept stuffing his mouth, but he didn't count. Because of Aeryn's twitching mouth, Johns mind started to provide a mental picture of Scorpy in panties and could barely repress both a shudder and a smile. He really hoped Harv wouldn't try that the next time he felt the need to intrude on his private thoughts.  
  
Sikozu's puzzled look was quickly replaced by one of annoyance. "You can not let him starve because you dislike him."   
  
"I don't see why not," John answered. "He's put me through hell on more than one occasion. He messed with my mind, put a chip in me to control me, hunted me all around the galaxy for over **two frelling** cycles, and on top of that I still have to put up with the neural version of him in my brain on a daily basis! I don't frelling care if he eats or dies!"  
  
"John," Aeryn interrupted him, "you promised me you would not harm him. I owe him my life." '_Great_' John thought, '_she finally speaks to me, only to remind me of the promise I made._' John gave up with a sigh. "Fine, go bring him some food cubes."  
  
"Since I for one do not understand this need for daily sustenance when monen feedings are much more efficient, I see no need to remain here with deficients such as yourselves. And, since nobody around here seems to care whether Scorpius lives or dies, I will take him his food cubes. Maybe with him I can have an intelligent conversation." At that Sikozu picked up a tray and left the galley.  
  
"Anyone else think that girl has an unhealthy interest in Scorpy?" John asked. "Never mind, I got something to talk to you about." The rest of the crew took a place at the table and proceeded with Second Meal, listening with half an ear to whatever John wanted to say.  
  
"During the last couple of days," John started, "I've obtained access to some new equations that should allow me to determine the location of a wormhole. I should also be able to accurately predict when a particular wormhole opens up. I wanna test these new equations. I've been running some calculations and believe several wormholes are relatively close by. If we use two starbursts, Pilot assures me we could get to one of them in about two solar days. So, if you, and particularly Captain Rygel here, agree we could head in that direction."  
  
"Crichton," Rygel began, "I will not lead us into a dangerous situation, and we all know wormholes lead to danger."  
  
"Not this time, Sparky," John replied. "Scorpy Sue is the only one interested enough in wormhole tech, and besides I'm sure even he doesn't know how to locate a wormhole. I've asked Pilot to choose the closest and safest location of the few I gave him. He assured me the area we will travel to poses no threat to us."  
  
"I believe we should vote on this," D'Argo said. "I feel we should give John a chance to check if this new knowledge is accurate and reliable. Perhaps we can one day use it if we are in trouble."  
  
"Yeah, I agree," Chiana said. "Crichton helped us out lots of times! Besides, it's not that we have anything else that we need to do."  
  
"Huh," Rygel huffed, "I would think obtaining fresh food would be prudent considering our low supply."  
  
"Don't worry Buckwheat; we'll take a slight detour to stock up first. That is why we'll need two startbursts: one to get to a system with almost no PK activity and a Commerce Planet with all the food and supplies we would need and then another to get to the system where a wormhole should be."  
  
"In that case I am in agreement. Pilot, please proceed to the system you and Crichton have chosen."  
  
"Yes, Captain Rygel," Moya's navigator replied over the clamshell. "Moya and I have plotted a course. Initiating starburst... now!"

* * *

"All right, so Fluffy, Pip, Granny, D, and Sputnik will go planet-side to get us some food and other necessities, while Aeryn and I hold down the fort and keep Scorp in check." John hoped that the time alone with Aeryn might help patch things up between them. "While there shouldn't be any PKs down there, I want you to stay in touch with each other. There's always the possibility some bounty hunter has seen a wanted beacon and we don't want to spend some time getting anyone's asses out of trouble."  
  
"Don't worry, John," D'Argo said to his friend, "I'll keep them out of trouble."  
  
"Humf," grumbled Rygel, "He doesn't even accord me the tiniest iota of respect due my Captaincy. Frelling bossy human." Rygel spun his throne sled away from where John stood with his arms draped over Chiana's shoulders and his eyes following D'Argo's back with its Qualta Blade sheath. Rygel purposely knocked John's shoulder as he passed, spinning rapidly away before the man could react more than to yowl and clutch at himself.  
  
"Damn, that smarts!" John bellowed and then recovered himself and continued as if the Hynerian hadn't left in such a huff. "Now that his flatulence has left the arena, we can continue."  
  
"OK people, be back in five arns. Have fun. And Pip, not the kind of fun you're thinking about right now."  
  
Aeryn and John stepped out of Moya's docking bay shortly after Pilot closed the hanger doors on the departing transport pod.  
  
"I'll check on Scorpius," Aeryn said, "Why don't you go check with Pilot if anything needs fixing."  
  
John didn't know what to do or think. He had hoped to spend some time with Aeryn and try to get her to talk about the pregnancy. Instead she wanted to check on Scorpy, alone no less. Still, not wanting to make matters worse, he decided to just go along with her plan. "OK, lemme know if something's going on."  
  
On his way to Pilot's Den, John let his mind wander again to the topic of Aeryn's pregnancy. He just couldn't understand why she wanted to keep the news from him. He was sure she wouldn't have said a thing about the pregnancy if he hadn't brought it up when she had returned. Was she afraid he would turn her down because the child was from the other him? But she must realize that he would love any child of her as his own, no matter who had actually participated in the act of creating this new life. Then again, how would she know anything about what he would feel? They had never talked about having children, at least he hadn't talked with her. Maybe the other guy, but even his copy would have told her that he would gladly act as a father to any of Aeryn's children, wouldn't he? He seemed to have told her about panties, gauging her reaction earlier to his panties crack.  
  
"Hi, Pilot," John called out to the gentle being while he crossed the narrow walkway leading to Pilot's console.   
  
"Commander Crichton," Pilot acknowledged his arrival, never pausing the intricate dance of his claws over the Leviathan's controls. "Is there something I can do for you?" Pilot asked as he turned his head to address the human astronaut.  
  
"Not really Pilot," John replied. "Actually I'm here to ask if there's something Moya wants fixing, seeing we've got some spare time on our hands while the crew is planet-side."  
  
"There are some power conduits on tier 4 that need replacement. It is at the same location as the ones on tier 5 you replaced a weeken ago."  
  
"OK Pilot, I'll get right on it." John paused while he thought of something. "Pilot, could you keep an eye on Aeryn for me? She's gone to see Scorpius and I don't trust him. I wanna know if something's up."  
  
"Of course Commander," Pilot replied. John briefly nodded his head and left Pilot's Den to replace the power conduits.

* * *

Aeryn walked towards Scorpius' holding cell. While her Peacekeeper mask was firmly in place, inwardly her emotions were wreaking havoc. She realized that John was angry with her for not telling him about the pregnancy, not even after her return. How the hezmana did he even know about that? With the fetus in stasis it was impossible her pregnancy would be showing in anyway and she hadn't told anyone.  
  
She also knew John was unhappy with Scorpius being here. She certainly understood why. But Scorpius had saved her life when nobody else could. So when he told her about his banishment from the Peacekeepers and that he no longer wished to obtain the wormhole knowledge but rather prevent it from falling into Scarran hands, she had granted him asylum.  
  
Still she knew the situation was only going to get worse so she would convince Scorpius to leave Moya. The planet they were orbiting now had no Peacekeeper presence and Scarrans were not interested in this region either. This would be a good place for Scorpius. She would protect John and prevent the wormhole knowledge from falling into the wrong hands, together with the other crew members. They had done so in the past and Scorpius knew first hand how good they were at it, so surely he would agree to leave.

* * *

The market was located ideally if you wanted to keep an eye out for threats and enemies. D'Argo was pleased John and Pilot had picked this commerce planet to stock up on much needed supplies. While he could keep an eye on everyone, the crew was able to obtain everything they needed, even the spare parts Aeryn had requested for her prowler and John for his module.  
  
While standing guard on the abandoned building, D'Argo let his mind wander to Chiana. He had been very happy when he learned of her return. His hearts still beat a little faster whenever she looked or smiled at him. He realized she still had feelings for him as well, but he couldn't forget how she betrayed him with his own son.  
  
This made him think about the friend who he considered his brother. Crichton had endured a lot in the relatively short time he'd known him, but the worst times seemed to be involving unpleasant situations regarding Aeryn. D'Argo found it difficult to believe how quickly John could forgive her for running away and leaving him behind. Even though John had clearly forgiven her, they apparently were dealing with yet another situation because John was showing signs of struggling with his feelings toward her and she seemed to be avoiding him again.  
  
He wondered why the human was able to forgive so easily and why he couldn't. He knew he still loved Chiana, but she hurt him and D'Argo couldn't forget that. He sighed and continued his watch and silently made a vow he would find a way to forgive her and reconcile.

* * *

1812 was making his way to the central data stores, making sure to use only the maintenance and ventilation ducts. After recording the conversation the one called Scorpius had in the middle of sleep cycle, he realized he could not simply replay the recording, at least not until he had more information. That information should be obtainable from Moya's data stores but he knew he had to be careful when accessing that information, that much was clear from the first part of the recorded conversation.  
  
_ "Yes," Scorpius said into the communication device, "I have been able to obtain full control over the Leviathan and it's Pilot; they have been made aware of the... consequences should they decide to inform the crew. I can monitor every DRD and track all comms from my holding cell."_  
  
The little drone at that point realized he could not replay the recording in just any place. He would have to devise a way to lure one of the crew members to a location where they would be undetectable before replaying it. That's why he was now heading towards Moya's data stores. He could interface with the data stores directly and even Moya wouldn't be able to detect it. 1812 needed to know exactly what Scorpius had done and how much control he really had before informing anyone. More importantly, he needed to know which parts of Moya were safe from Scorpius' surveillance. Finally, the only surviving drone from Elack reached the data stores and began his search.

* * *

"Officer Sun, what a pleasant surprise," Scorpius said smiling as he saw the ex-Peacekeeper approach his cell. He'd already known she was on her way to see him when he had overheard the conversation between her and Crichton.  
  
"Hello Scorpius," Aeryn replied. "I came to discuss your current situation. I am grateful you saved my life when I was infected with the virus," she continued, "but ..." Scorpius interrupted her.  
  
"But you have come to the realization that my presence does not make John feel safe." At her affirmative nod he continued, "I am uncertain how this could be remedied. I can understand John's reluctance to trust me after... our prior encounters, but he must realize that I am no longer any threat to him now that I have been banished by Peacekeeper High Command."  
  
"I think we can solve this situation quite simply," Aeryn responded. "You can leave Moya. She is currently in orbit around a planet with no Peacekeeper or Scarran presence. Their technological level is high and I am sure you can find work in one of their research facilities."  
  
"This is not a satisfactory solution, Officer Sun," the Scarran half-breed said after a brief consideration. "As I have stated to you before, my primary reason for being here is to safeguard the wormhole technology in John's head. I can not perform that function when I'm separated from him."  
  
"And how exactly are you protecting John from within the confines of your cell?" Aeryn wanted to know. "You can not perform your task from here and I can assure you none of the crew would like you to roam freely aboard Moya. Furthermore, we are more than capable of protecting wormhole tech from falling in the wrong hands."  
  
Scorpius smiled a bit before replying to that. "Are you sure you are capable? I seem to recall a few... incidents where I managed to obtain quite some information from him. I have also learned John was captured and interrogated by a Scarran once. So far it appears you are unable to keep him and the technology safe."  
  
"Frell you, Scorpius!" Aeryn was starting to lose her patience with the Scarran half-breed. "You may have achieved his capture a couple of times but we have always managed to retrieve him again. I want you to leave Moya before we break orbit."  
  
"That is not an option, Officer Sun," Scorpius answered to her retreating back. Aeryn didn't bother to answer and disappeared from his view. Scorpius sighed and sat back on his cot. This was not how he had planned this. Still, he was sure he could find a way to stay aboard. Slowly, a plan started to form in his mind and a smile slowly found its way to his mouth. Oh yes, that would be very satisfactory for him, in more than one way. He reached for his hidden communication device and proceeded to set his plan in motion. He needed to act quickly for his plan to succeed but how enjoyable the outcome would be. It would certainly make his other plans a lot easier.

* * *

About two arns later, the crew had found a nice bar to relax a little. Chiana had gone up with the transport pod about half an arn earlier, after Aeryn had commed them to bring the Kalish girl up to Moya to help Scorpius. It appeared his cooling rods were malfunctioning and the orange girl was the only one who knew how to repair them.  
  
This was not unfortunate as the crew had completed most of the procuring and had to make an extra trip if they were to bring both supplies and themselves back to Moya. While Chiana was on the way, the rest of the crew completed their search for much needed supplies and where done when Chiana returned. Because they still had an arn before they would be leaving, Chiana suggested they'd go relax at the local bar.  
  
Just as they were about to get back to Moya, D'Argo spotted impending trouble. "Frell!" he muttered. He wondered how these Peacekeepers were able to get here without Aeryn or Moya detecting them and warn them. Possibly Moya was already boarded. As he was leading the others out the back of the building, his comms crackled to life.  
  
"Yo, D, trouble's heading your way. Better get your asses back up here, fast!"  
  
"They're already here, but I spotted them before they saw us. Why didn't you warn us sooner?"  
  
"Well," John drew the word out in obvious embarrassment, "I might've accidentally taken the comms offline. It took us a while to get 'em back online again."  
  
D'Argo rolled his eyes. "John I thought we discussed this; no more playing with Moya's systems if you don't know what they are for!"  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my fault," John replied, "Pilot asked me to disconnect a few power lines. I even asked him if he was sure those were the ones I needed to disconnect. He said yes, so I yanked them, almost getting fried in the process and all of a sudden no more comms. I can't help it if Pilot fails to tell me the comms power lines where running directly next to it or that the PKs chose that moment to come and crash your little party."  
  
"So it is your fault," D'Argo concluded, "you just admitted the comms power lines were just close to the lines you were supposed to disconnect." It was quiet for a few microns before John admitted his error.  
  
"So, you've recognized the gate crashers?" John asked.  
  
"I saw Braca entering just as I left," the Luxan warrior replied. "I don't understand why they are here. I thought Pilot had come to the conclusion that the Peacekeepers haven't been to this system for cycles."  
  
"Maybe they're just visiting relatives or friends?" John offered.  
  
"Or maybe they have been following us, possibly through Scorpius," D'Argo pointed out to his friend.  
  
"I don't think so. Pilot assured me Scorp hasn't left his cell and Moya hasn't detected any signal that could've been used as a tracking signal. What's your status?" John inquired.  
  
"We have just boarded the transport pod, apparently undetected. We're heading back to Moya now. Tell Pilot to prepare for immediate startburst the microt we dock."  
  
"Excuse me," Rygel interrupted, "I am the captain, so Pilot will not do anything unless I command him to."  
  
"Now would be a good time, your lowness," D'Argo responded.  
  
"Uh, right," Rygel said, "Uh, Pilot, prepare for immediate startburst the microt we dock."  
  
"As you wish Captain Rygel," Pilot responded over the comms.  
  
A few microts later, the transport pod set down on the floor of the large docking bay. "Initiating startburst... now!" Pilot said over the comms as Moya was engulfed in the white and blue energy that opened the slipstream into hyper space. At the same time a pulse blast was fired at her from one of the Marauders, hitting Moya just as she disappeared.

* * *

Just a system away from their previous location, Moya hung in space. The pulse blast had caused internal damage in Moya's startburst energy generator, causing the big biomechanical ship to drop out of hyper space much sooner than anticipated.  
  
"Pilot, you and Moya all right," Crichton asked the symbiote.  
  
"Moya's starburst energy generator has been damaged. We can not perform startburst until it is repaired. The hetch drive has been damaged slightly as well. I suggest we repair the hetch drive first; the repairs to the starburst chamber will take several arns before they are usable but the hetch drive can be repaired in half an arn."  
  
"Right, we'll start there," Crichton replied. "Anything else that needs repairing?"  
  
"Various systems have been damaged slightly. Most importantly, Moya's sensor array is barely functioning. There are also power fluctuations on various tiers as some of the power conduits were damaged," Pilot informed the Commander about the damage inflicted on Moya.  
  
"Great, more power conduits to repair," John muttered under his breath. Apparently not quiet enough for the symbiote to miss.  
  
"Yes, Commander, but these conduits needed repairing soon anyway," Pilot told him. "They are in the same location as the one you repaired earlier but one tier up."  
  
"Right, I'll handle those," John answered, "as I seem to have the most experience with them. I'll ask Pip and D if they can take care of the hetch drive and the sensors. Aeryn can take a nap because she has last watch tonight and she had it last night as well. She needs the rest, regardless of what she says."  
  
"Very well, Commander," Pilot agreed. John turned and left the Den, informing his friends of the current plans on his way to the power conduits.

* * *

1812 was making his way to the starburst generator room. His scans of Moya's data stores indicated the room had no sensors and comms signals could not penetrate the shielded room. He was aware of the damage done to that section and realized one of the crew members would certainly be going that way soon to make repairs.  
  
The little mechanical drone knew he had to inform the crew of what was happening onboard of the Leviathan. His scan of the data stores had revealed how the prisoner called Scorpius had gained control.  
  
_"Ah, Pilot, so nice to see you."  
  
Pilot looked directly at the black-clad specter, never stopping his multitasking motions, and stated crisply, "Scorpius, you are not welcome on board Moya. I must ask you to leave."   
  
"You may ask Pilot, but I will not comply. Officer Sun personally invited me to stay on Moya and granted my request for asylum."   
  
Pilot was startled that he had missed the arrival of his friend as she staggered from behind the Scarren half-breed's back. "It's true, Pilot," Aeryn stated weakly. "Scorpius has saved my life and in return I granted him asylum."  
  
Pilot looked at Aeryn. "Officer Sun, Moya and I are pleased you have returned to us but can not believe you brought Scorpius with you willingly. Did he force you to bring him with you?"  
  
"No, Pilot, he did not. He found me in my prowler and succeeded in reviving me from a severe case of heat delirium. Without Scorpius' help, I would have been worse than dead. Even know I am sick with the disease and must be cooled continuously. I am in his debt. In return for his help of the cooling suit and rods, he asked me to take him with me and be granted asylum here."  
  
Pilot looked from Aeryn to Scorpius and back again. "Very well, Officer Sun. If that is what you wish."  
  
"It is," Aeryn replied before nearly collapsing.  
  
"Officer Sun, I think it is best we get you to the cooling chamber to aid the cooling suit," Scorpius said. Aeryn simply nodded and let herself be guided out of the Den.  
  
When Scorpius next returned to the Den after securing Aeryn, he stepped up to Pilot's console and reached nonchalantly over the rim and pushed the rod that decreased the fuel levels used by Moya to keep her navigator healthy. With his other hand, he stabbed fiercely down on to Pilot's neck under the crustacean's helmet, directly targeting his neural nexus. Pilot's mouth hung slackly as Scorpius connected his lighted head gear and aimed the connected rod towards Pilot's forehead.   
  
"Ah, my large friend, now I will learn how to control this ship and we can begin the game."  
  
Pilot shook his head a few minutes later and looked up to see the arrival of Scorpius in his den for the second time in the past arn.  
  
"Pilot, I wish to speak to you about a matter of great importance... to you and Moya." Scorpius stood in front of Pilot's console and looked him straight in the eyes. "I have established a full link to all of Moya's functions. I'm not Scorpius. I'm a bioloid copied from the real Scorpius who also made a bioloid copy of John Crichton. That copy will soon be arriving on Moya as well. Let me warn you that I am also tapped in to the comms system and will be able to not only hear any conversation but also can keep track of every crew member's location. If I hear anyone speak about this or go anywhere near the location of the link I have set up, I will have to take action. Am I clear, Pilot?"  
  
Pilot was shocked. "Moya and I will not tell the others, but we can not prevent them finding out on their own."  
  
"I am aware of that Pilot and if they do find out on their own, no actions towards Moya will be forthcoming. But do be aware that I can also monitor DRD interactions with the crew." At that Scorpius turned around and started walking out of the Den.   
  
"Scorpius," Pilot called after him, "What exactly would you be planning to do should Moya or I not cooperate?"   
  
Scorpius stopped but did not turn toward Pilot. "I hear it's very unfortunate if a Leviathan would initiate a starburst when certain compartments are closed. It appears that in such a case the starburst energy will not go out of the ship but will be forced inward. Something like that could happen to Moya and you, if you... choose to be brave." At that Scorpius left the den, leaving a scared Pilot behind._  
  
Now that the small robot had learned that the human was merely a copy he knew he had to let someone else know about this. This was unfortunate as he was able to communicate with the human relatively easily, but he wasn't sure he would be able to do that with the other crew members. Still, he had to try and so decided to hide out in the generator chamber and wait for one of the crew members to arrive, hoping it would be someone else than the fake human.

* * *

Aeryn had last watch of the sleep cycle. She didn't really mind as it gave her time to think about her situation without being disturbed. Pilot had informed her Moya had found a gas giant nearby. A gas giant was close to heaven for a Leviathan and its properties also served to hide one from scans. With the captain asleep, Aeryn made the decision to hide out in the gas giant's atmosphere so they could work on the starburst generator without being easily spotted by potential enemies.  
  
Once the Leviathan was safely hidden, she told Pilot she would start working on the generator itself.  
  
"Officer Sun, I must inform you that there is no opportunity for any of us to comm you while you are in the starburst chamber."  
  
"Very well, Pilot," Aeryn replied, "if something is wrong, comm Captain Rygel. It's only one more arn before the crew awakens." Aeryn left command and headed for the starburst room.  
  
When Aeryn arrived at the starburst room she noticed a lot of damage. She decided to start with the power conduits that transported the energy from the generator to the starburst arms. She shoved her tools through the small opening that lead to the maintenance duct between the large room and the generator, intending to follow behind it. Unfortunately her pulse pistol got in the way and prevented her from entering the duct. She removed her pistol and left it near the opening and proceeded into the maintenance duct.  
  
She turned to her left and noticed the oddly colored DRD she had seen around John a lot. "Hello there," Aeryn greeted the servo-robot, "what are you doing here?"  
  
The DRD turned his eyestalks to her and chirped a bit and started to replay the recording he had made the night before. Aeryn stilled when she saw a recording of Scorpius in his cell, talking into some communication device. She listened and watched closely. She really should have kicked his eema off the ship when they were orbiting that planet!  
  
Aeryn turned pale when 1812 showed her the recording of how Scorpius had gained control over the entire ship. The recording also told her that the John currently aboard Moya was a bioloid. Aeryn realized that the real John apparently was captured and held by the real Scorpius.  
  
The DRD showed her one last recording.  
  
_John walked to Scorpius' cell. "You awake?" he asked.  
  
Scorpius opened his eyes. "Yes, I just finished talking to Scorpius. It appears the original John has finally regained consciousness. He is not very happy with his current situation."  
  
John snorted, "I bet he isn't. I take it the ship and Pilot have been informed of our new and complicated relationship?"  
  
Scorpius smiled, seemingly remembering back to his subversion of the symbiote and ship. "Yes, they are aware neither of us is real. I may have failed to tell him you are unaware of this during your waking arns, but I am sure he understands that now that he can listen in on our conversations as well."  
  
Both John and Scorpius laughed at that.  
  
"So, you got some new wormhole equations I need to learn?" John asked the half breed.  
  
"Yes. I suggest you take a seat, there's quite a lot to tell you."  
_  
"Ah, look at that," a familiar voice sounded from the entrance of the duct, "my buddy is making new friends by spilling all my secrets."  
  
Aeryn's hand moved to her leg to find she didn't have her pulse pistol with her. She silently cursed herself.  
  
"Is this yours?" John asked, pointing her pulse pistol toward her. "From the beginning you've told me to always keep my pulse pistol within easy reach. I have mine with me, see?" John held his pistol next to hers. "You should've listened to your own advice babe." 


	3. Chapter 2: Chain of ifs

Chiana had gotten up early today. "First something to eat, maybe that fried grolack and jinkelberry juice from the Last Meal," she thought as she headed to the Central Chamber. "Dren! Gotta clean out the Maintenance Bay and then do that frelling amnexus cleanup for Aeryn." Why did Moya require so much maintenance when a girl just wanted to have some fun? Chiana sighed. She knew the answer, but still felt frustrated that her snooping around that fekkik Scorpy would be delayed.  
  
When she completed her tasks, she headed once again to the Center Chamber to get something to drink. Upon entering, she heard some noise coming from the galley, a noise that resembled a certain toad's throne sled.  
  
"Whadda ya doin'?" Chiana asked as she entered the galley. "You wouldn't be trying to take more than your share of the food, would'ya, you little slug?"  
  
"Huh," Rygel huffed, "I should think I deserve more than the rest of the crew. I am the one with three stomachs to fill."  
  
"You little toad, do ya really expect anyone to vote for ya when you act like that? Now put that back before I come and take it from ya."  
  
Rygel sniffed. "I doubt you could get high enough to take it from me. In case you have forgotten, I am on a sled that can achieve a considerable height and you are lacking in that department." All the while he backed out of the galley into the larger Center Chamber.  
  
"But I am not," D'Argo's voice rumbled from behind him, "and I would advise you to do as Chiana asked or you may find yourself with a new orifice."  
  
Rygel realized the big Luxan would follow up on his threat and returned the bag of food he had grabbed when Chiana had entered the galley.  
  
"Has anyone seen Aeryn?" D'Argo asked. "She was not in command when I passed there earlier." Both Rygel and Chiana shook their heads indicating that they'd not seen hide nor hair of the warrior princess. D'Argo snorted and yelled, "Pilot, do you know where Aeryn is?"  
  
"I do, Ka D'Argo," Pilot said as his image appeared on the clam shell. "After Moya and I found a gas giant, Aeryn asked us to enter its atmosphere to shield us from scans. Once we had entered the atmosphere, she started repairs on the starburst generator."  
  
"And yet another crew member who seems to forget that I am the captain," Rygel grumbled.  
  
D'Argo chose to ignore the Hynerian's remark. "She didn't respond when I commed her," he informed Pilot instead.  
  
"The Starburst Chamber is shielded to keep the energy build up from escaping into the ship. The shielding also blocks all comms signals," Pilot explained.  
  
"Fine, I'll go there so we can eat together," D'Argo said.  
  
"Go where?" Crichton asked as he entered Center Chamber.  
  
"To get Aeryn. She's working on the starburst generator and comms don't work in that area," Chiana explained as D'Argo left the galley. "Hey old man," she continued with their usual greeting as she moved closer for a hug. "You look tired. Couldn't sleep?"  
  
"Mornin' Pip," John replied, hugging her back. "I think I slept OK, at least I can't remember lying awake very long. I do feel tired, like I haven't slept but worked out all night instead."  
  
Chiana eyed her human friend. He really looked like he had been awake the entire sleeping cycle. She also spotted a bruise near his temple. She was about to ask him when and where he got that from when D'Argo and Aeryn entered.  
  
"She was already on her way to Center Chamber," D'Argo reported.  
  
Chiana looked at Aeryn and gasped. "What the frell happened to you? You look like dren!"  
  
Aeryn glanced to John but quickly turned away when he looked back at her. "It's nothing," she said. "I had a minor accident while making repairs."  
  
"Minor accident? Frell, have you even looked at yourself before you walked in? This is not minor Aeryn! What happened?" Chiana persisted.  
  
"It appears that the person who fixed the amnexus burst on tier 3 yesterday had forgotten to reopen the valve. The conduit the fluid runs through passes the starburst generator room quite closely and the pressure build up was enough to rupture the weakened conduit and I got covered in the amnexus fluid," Aeryn explained, glaring at the Nebari, knowing she was the one assigned to that task.  
  
John, D'Argo and Rygel were doing their best to not burst out laughing, not wanting the former Peacekeeper to turn her anger toward them.  
  
"I, huh, just remembered, hmpf, I need to go, hhm, check on something," John managed to get out without completely bursting out in laughter and quickly removed himself from the galley.  
  
"I am supposed to help him," D'Argo said, better able to control his laughter and followed his friend. Rygel didn't even bother to say anything and also got out of Center Chamber. Aeryn ignored all three of them and kept her gaze on Chiana.  
  
Chiana looked anxiously at the Sebecean, angling her arms sharply and cocking her head from one side to the other. "Hey Aeryn, come-come on, you-you know I didn't do it on purpose! I-I just made a-a little mistake. Yeah, a little mistake!"  
  
"This is not the first time you made a 'little mistake' that caused one of us trouble. You will come with me after First Meal to help clean up the mess," Aeryn told the Nebari girl. "I will go and clean up myself and come back later to eat. I hope I will not have to come and find you when I am done."  
  
Aeryn turned around and left the Center Chamber, noticing the three men that had stayed just outside of the Center Chamber. "Not a word," Aeryn warned them and resumed her walk toward her quarters.  
  
The guys re-entered the Center Chamber to find a visibly relieved Chiana standing near the table.  
  
"Well, Pip, that was highly entertaining and I thank you for forgetting that valve," John said to his gray friend, sporting a lob-sided grin.  
  
Chiana grinned back at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, "because I'm sure you're gonna get it later. I don't think Aeryn liked it when you started to laugh at her."  
  
"Hey, I did not laugh at her; I waited 'til I was outside in the corridor before I started to laugh, way out of her hearing range."

* * *

Aeryn walked the corridors of Moya and headed toward her quarters. Her mind was working overtime on the situation that had revealed it self less than an arn earlier. John, _her_ John, was captured by Scorpius! In his place, a bioloid John was aboard Moya as was a bioloid Scorpius.  
  
Aeryn still couldn't believe how the fake Scorpius had threatened Moya and Pilot to keep this secret. She also felt a little guilty for not seeing earlier that this John was not _her_ John. She had thought the differences she noticed in his behavior were caused by her leaving and whatever had happened on Arnessk. Now it seemed there may have been another cause.  
  
Aeryn arrived at her quarters and headed for the refreshing chamber to get a shower. Her mind didn't stop pondering. The fake John had caught her when the DRD was showing her the recordings and had proceeded to threaten her. Luckily even the fake John had inherited that same sense of timing and the need to talk that her John possessed.  
  
_ John reholstered Winona and kept Aeryn's pulse pistol aimed at her. Aeryn was already calculating possible scenarios of attack.  
  
"All right," John said, since you are so eager to know all things, lemme tell you what's going on. Scorpy got me, the real me, right after we returned from the wormhole and entered the landing bay of the Carrier. All hell was breaking out 'cause Crais and Talyn were performing their impression of a Kamikazi pilot." John moved a bit; apparently he was in an uncomfortable position.  
  
"Scorpy had already created me, I was only missing John's memories and personality. These were now copied from real John, who was kept unconscious. My programming states that I was to make sure none of you would ever find out I'm not really me."  
  
At that Aeryn snorted. "You have obviously failed."  
  
"Yeah, but I can still correct it. You're goin' to take a little trip in your Prowler. It will blow up. Don't worry, you won't notice a thing. You'll be dead long before the Prowler even leaves Moya. 1812 here was unfortunate enough to have ventured into your Prowler and you hadn't noticed when you left. You know, you really should be paying more attention to your surroundings; look at how easily I was able to sneak up on you."  
  
At this point John's concentration began to diminish and he looked at the ground for a bit. When he looked at her again there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. Aeryn, however, had seen the chance she needed when he looked down and threw one of her tools at him. Just as he looked up again, the tool hit his temple. The impact made him loose his balance and fall backwards. Aeryn quickly scrambled out of the narrow maintenance duct and into the bigger Starburst Chamber.  
  
John got up again. "Need to go back to my quarters. Sorry, got no time to help you," was all he said, before turning around and leaving the Starburst Chamber._  
  
This had confused Aeryn until she realized with shock that the bioloid had two personalities: a daytime one that was oblivious to his programming and a night shift one that was totally aware of Scorpius and in league with that son of hezmana. The bioloid's programming must have started to execute the 'return to quarters' sequence just as things were getting frelled..  
  
Aeryn realized she would only have until sleep cycle until the one she now thought of as 'Evil John' "awoke" and would come after her again. She considered her options as she resumed her shower.  
  
She could inform the others as long as she could get them to the Starburst Chamber, which was the only place where she apparently could talk without being overheard by Scorpius. She wasn't sure she had enough time to spread the news one by one to her friends, given that if they all marched down to the Starburst Chamber and appeared together Scorpius would find out. Dren, 12 arns wasn't enough time to formulate a plan. But if she didn't, come night shift the fake John aboard Moya would tell Scorpius that Aeryn, and most likely the rest of the crew, knew about the two bioloids. And then the fake Scorpius would without a doubt inform the real Scorpius and _her_ John probably would pay for Aeryn's mistake and lack of timing.  
  
On the other hand, Aeryn continued thinking as she toweled herself dry, she could also pay close attention to the daytime version of John and hope to catch him at something that would indicate he was not the real John. That would allow her to "kill" him without Scorpius realizing she knew about him as well. She shook her head. This plan would also accomplish little, as she had no idea where the real John might be held. It was possible the bioloid John knew about it, but that would still allow Scorpius to inform his real counterpart, long before they would get there. Aeryn snorted. "Dren!" she said quietly, making sure the comms would not pick up her voice, "I'm not good at this planning stuff. That is John's job." Aeryn sighed in sadness and wondered how he was faring.  
  
Would it be possible to get rid of the bioloid Scorpius? If he was no longer aboard Moya, he held no control over her. More importantly, he could no longer continue his surveillance. She already confronted the half breed about getting him off Moya. Unfortunately, they had to leave the Commerce Planet rather hurriedly, so she had no time to force him to leave.  
  
This last thought made her pause. That's why the Peacekeepers suddenly arrived on that planet: he had contacted the real Scorpius and informed him of her request. That frelling half breed even made sure the Kalish woman would be back on Moya before the Peacekeepers arrived. He probably had hoped to be rid of D'Argo and the others.  
  
Aeryn sighed inwardly. There were no really good options. It was probably best to inform Chiana when she appeared in the Chamber to help clean up the amnexus fluid.

* * *

**On the Space Station Gammak Base**  
  
John awoke again. He no longer felt any pain, so he figured it was an improvement over the last time. Unfortunately, he still hadn't the faintest idea where he was, only that it was completely dark.  
  
As if his mind was being read, the lights came on. John noticed he was in a rather luxurious room, especially by Peacekeeper standards. He had access to his own galley, a roomy refresher section, a data terminal, a nice big couch, and a big bed.  
  
"All that's missing is the woman in my life," John said to himself. He got up and turned suddenly, startled as the door slide open. For a moment John hoped it would be his raven-haired guiding star, but soon knew better.  
  
"Ah, good morning, John," The voice was indeed not that of his favorite ex-Peacekeeper. It wasn't even a female voice. Nope, it was that bastard Scorpius, again.  
  
"Whadda ya wan' Scorp?" John snarled, not being in a really good mood after finding out not all his thoughts would become reality.  
  
"I felt it necessary to explain to you the rules you must follow if you want to keep using this room instead of the holding cell I wanted to put you in," the Scarran half-breed told him. "The rules are fairly simple, John. Even you should be able to grasp them."  
  
"Yeah, well, understanding is one thing, following them is another," John quipped back.  
  
"That may be so, John, but if you do not follow the rules, your life will be come... less appealing."  
  
"Well, it ain't very appealing right now, Grasshopper," John replied. He noticed Scorpius' disapproving gaze and sighed, "OK, lemme hear the rules."  
  
"The first, and perhaps the most important rule is that you should not focus on anything other than wormhole knowledge for at least eight arns a day. I have provided you access to a data terminal containing all of our research on wormholes. I want you to correlate your knowledge with our existing data and complement it where necessary."  
  
"Yeah, the data you stole from my brain." John turned his back on the black-clad figure of his worst nightmares. He sighed and shook his head. "Rock and hard place again," he murmured. He dropped on to the couch and gazing up at Scorpius, stated dryly hoping to delay the rest of the Letterman List, "In case you haven't heard Scorp, it's not healthy for a human to concentrate on one facet of his life for extended periods without any breaks."  
  
"I said at least 8 arns, John. There are more than enough arns in a day to reach that quota without the need to work continuously. The second rule you must follow, is that you will not communicate with anyone but me. If you require something you can send me a message through the terminal and if within reason, I will see to it you will get what you asked for."  
  
"Question, do I need to ask permission if I need to go to the can?"  
  
"Oh, John, stop interrupting me with nonsense questions."  
  
"I can't, it's in my genes. Ask my friends. They'll tell you I have a tendency for talking nonsense, ask the wrong thing, point guns at the wrong people, and so forth, etcetera, yadda, yadda, yadda."  
  
Scorpius sighed. "John, I have been very patient, but at some point I will have reached my limit."  
  
"And then what? Kill me? Harm me in a way I wouldn't be able to perform my duties? What'll that do with your never ending quest for wormhole tech?"  
  
"Enough, John, no more talking. The third and last rule involves your stay in this place. You will have access only to your current room and are not to leave it at anytime. I have ensured that you do not leave by adding a failsafe to the entrance to this room. Touching the door will cause instant paralysis. Failure to comply with any of the rules will force me to take other steps to enforce Do you understand that, John?"  
  
John just stared stoically at the half breed.  
  
"John, I asked you if you understood all of this."  
  
Still John did nothing.  
  
"Answer me!" Scorpius was obviously enraged.  
  
"I thought you said I shouldn't talk anymore," John answered defiantly. "If you're gonna tell me what to do, be more accurate, OK? As to your question, yes I do understand that, but I can tell you, you can start looking at alternatives, 'cause I'll never give you wormhole technology and I will find a way out."  
  
"We will see, John. We will see." At that Scorpius turned and walked to the door.  
  
"Hey, don't I get something to eat?" John asked.  
  
"You will, John. After you have solved the first puzzle I left for you on the terminal. I advise you to start quickly if you are hungry." At that, Scorpius walked through the door which closed behind him.  
  
"Oh, that's just great," John muttered. He walked to the refresher to get a shower and started thinking about his options.  
  
There were not many things he could do. It all hinged on some vital information he didn't have. Right now at least. He made a mental list of things he would need to find out. First thing to find out was where the frell he was right now. The second thing he needed an answer to was if he was being watched, which he assumed he was since Peacekeepers were nosey buggers and Scorpius was not one to stint on the details. A layout of the place would be a nice thing to know as well.  
  
Perhaps he could find this out by using the terminal. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure Scorpius wasn't watching his every move on the frelling terminal either. Still, he had to try; it was his only option.  
  
John finished his shower, toweled himself dry and put on some fresh clothes he found in one of the closets. Feeling hungry and knowing the only way to get some food was to solve Scorpy's riddle, he sat behind the terminal and let his subconscious take over to solve several half-completed equations. Working on an escape plan could wait until he wasn't feeling so hungry.

* * *

**Moya, Corridor outside the Center Chamber**  
  
Chiana left the Center Chamber almost immediately after Aeryn. She realized she would have at least half an arn before Aeryn was due in the Starburst Chamber where she would be expecting to see her for clean up duties.  
  
That gave her at least three quarters of an arn to get there before Aeryn would get really tinked. Just enough time to do some snooping around Scorpius' cell. Dren-face was up to something, she could smell it. Chiana went to her quarters and left her comms badge there. It's better for snooping if you don't have anything on you that could make noise at the most inappropriate of times.  
  
Chiana hurried to the area where fek-face was locked up and scrambled into a maintenance duct. She slowly crawled to the grating that allowed her to both hear and see the frelling half breed.  
  
She did not have to wait very long before her suspicions of him were confirmed. Dren-face reached for something resembling a communication device. Chiana almost didn't believe what she heard: the voice coming from the communication device was that of Scorpius.  
  
"John has awoken again," the Scorpius from the communication device said, "and I have explained to him the rules of the game and the consequences should he decide not to cooperate. I believe he will not determine the real nature of his predicament for quite some time."  
  
Moya's version of Scorpius nodded in support of his master's information. "Timing is good. I have given the bioloid John the last of the equations we were able to retrieve from the backup stores."  
  
"I have given him additional incentive to solve our next puzzle," the reply came from the communication device. "I am certain he will solve it quickly. I take it the crew of Moya is still unaware of both your origins?"  
  
"Yes, none of them suspect anything. It was... unfortunate that Braca failed to capture them on that Commerce Planet, but it does not matter as my primary goal has been achieved. Due to our hasty departure, Officer Sun had no time to get me off of Moya as she threatened to do."  
  
"Make sure the pilot of the Leviathan will keep this a secret," the voice on the communication device ordered.  
  
"Ah, do not worry about that. Pilot has been made aware of the consequences should he decide to inform the crew. Both he and the Leviathan will be no problem."  
  
Chiana had heard enough and slowly backed away and crawled back out of the maintenance duct. She had been right, fek-face was up to something, worse yet, his plan had already been set in motion. There were two of Scorpius and two of John, and neither of the two on Moya were real. She quickly made her way back to her quarters to pick up her comms badge and made her way to the Starburst Chamber. She had to tell Aeryn about her discovery and together they could come up with a plan, she was sure of it.

* * *

Aeryn had returned to the Center Chamber for First Meal and noticed Chiana wasn't there. "Where is she?" She felt no need to elaborate on who she was searching for.  
  
"She went back to her quarters and then intended to get started on the clean up in the Starburst Chamber," D'Argo informed her.  
  
"Good, I don't have to go and find her," Aeryn stated. She glared at D'Argo and John who sat next to him. "I noticed you found my appearance earlier amusing?"  
  
"Well, uhm, Aeryn, it wasn't really the appearance as much as the how and why," John told her.  
  
"Yes, apparently so much so you went to the corridor, which was a good plan, and laughed at my predicament. You could at least have moved further away so I wouldn't be able to hear it!" Normally Aeryn wouldn't have been this angry at him, but she still remembered what had happened just over an arn ago and that fueled her anger which she realized was actually full of concern for the real John, frustration over this frelled up situation, and just plain fear that they wouldn't be able to fix it in time. In the turmoil of her thoughts, she had forgotten that the daytime version of John's personality had no clue what had occurred.  
  
"I'm sorry, Aeryn, you're right, I shouldn't have laughed at you, but it really was very funny."  
  
Aeryn sighed. She had no real reason to be angry with him, and she didn't want to alert that frelling copy of Scorpius that something had tipped her off that things were not right on Moya. "Alright John, I understand. I would have probably laughed as well if it had happened to you."  
  
"You going to need help in the Starburst Chamber after you and Pip have cleaned up?" John wanted to know.  
  
"No, I think Chiana and I will be able to make the required repairs." And even if that was not the case, she would certainly not want John there. There was no telling if the bioloid's other personality could be triggered because of a location or a memory and she really didn't want to risk that.  
  
"Right. In that case D'Argo and I will make necessary repairs to the sensors and other damaged systems."  
  
Aeryn gave a nod of acknowledgement and proceeded to finish First Meal and head to the Starburst Chamber.

* * *

Chiana arrived at the Starburst Chamber before Aeryn did. She was again a little anxious because she wasn't sure if Aeryn would believe her story about Scorpius. Additionally, Chiana was worried about her reaction when she found out Crichton wasn't real either. Would she feel guilty for not seeing it herself, if she believed it at all?  
  
The Starburst Chamber really was a mess. The amnexus fluid was everywhere! No wonder Aeryn had looked like dren. With a sigh Chiana started her clean up duties.  
  
Just a few microts later, Aeryn arrived. "Good, you started clean up already."  
  
"Yeah, it's really messy in here. I'm sorry, Aeryn, I should have remembered the valve."  
  
Aeryn said nothing and just looked alternately at Chiana and the maintenance duct where 1812 was still hiding, wondering if it would be wise to tell it to Chiana. The Nebari wasn't known for being good at keeping secrets, unless they were her own.  
  
Chiana was also wondering if she should tell Aeryn about her discovery. Maybe she should just tell D'Argo instead. At least he wouldn't get mad at her and would probably believe her whereas Aeryn would probably not.  
  
Aeryn had finally come to a decision; she had to tell someone to help her deal with this situation and Chiana could be trusted if she was made aware of the consequences to the real John if she would tell it to anyone else outside of this room. "Chiana, could you please start in the maintenance duct?"  
  
Chiana eyed the ex-Peacekeeper for a brief moment before agreeing. "Sure. I'll get right on it." Nope, it would be stupid to tell Aeryn anything. She was definitely still angry with her. Chiana crawled through the small opening and into the maintenance duct with considerably less trouble than Aeryn had encountered earlier. She immediately noticed the red, white and blue servo-robot John had taken with him from the dying Leviathan.  
  
The DRD moved it's eyestalks toward her and chirped. From just outside the duct Aeryn said one thing.  
  
"Show her."  
  
Chiana looked back toward the entrance, slightly confused but was prevented from asking the question she wanted to ask when the DRD started to playback the same recordings it had shown earlier to the Sebacean.  
  
"Frell! This is worse than I thought!" Chiana exclaimed when the DRD had ended.  
  
"No, it got worse when John caught me when the DRD was showing the recordings to me." Aeryn answered.  
  
"He knows?" Chiana asked.  
  
"Yes. He threatened to kill me, but before he could do anything his programming started the sequence to get him back to his quarters so he could change personality again, but not before I threw one of my tools at his head."  
  
"So that's where he got the bruise! I saw it this morning but I forgot to ask him after you entered." Chiana shook her head while she completely moved out of the duct, the DRD following her. "I caught the fake Scorpius this morning talking with the real Scorpius," she blurted out.  
  
"That is not good, Chiana. He has full access to Moya's systems and is tracking everybody using their comms badges. He probably knows you were there."  
  
"He wouldn't because I left my comms badge in my quarters before I went to snoop around him. I didn't trust dren-face at all, Aeryn! I-I just wanted to catch him doing something bad."  
  
"Why did you not tell me when I entered the Starburst Chamber?" Aeryn wanted to know.  
  
"I-I wasn't sure how'd you react to it, and you still looked a bit angry with me, so I decided to tell D'Argo later. Dren, Aeryn, I didn't know Scorpius was listening in on us! I-I could've told D'Argo and fek-face would have known about it! Is it really safe in here?"  
  
"Yes," Aeryn confirmed, "Pilot told me the shielding of this Chamber prevents any signal from penetrating it. Did you hear what Scorpius talked about?"  
  
"Only that the real Crichton has awoken again and is being forced to work on wormhole tech. Neither said where that was. Oh, and the fake Scorpius had requested for Braca to come to that Commerce Planet. He was supposed to capture us all, but the primary reason for him was to make sure you would not force the fake Scorpius to leave Moya."  
  
"I had come to that conclusion myself. He even made sure the Kalish girl was safely aboard Moya."  
  
"You really wanted to get fek-face off of Moya?" Chiana asked.  
  
"Yes, he was making things difficult for John and the only way to remedy that was to get Scorpius away from him. Scorpius disagreed. Now I know why."  
  
"Aeryn, what are we going to do? Crichton will come after you tonight or will inform the fake Scorpius! They will both soon realize you may have informed all of us. They might even harm Moya or Pilot! We can't allow that, we-we just can't!"  
  
"I don't know Chiana. I think we should try to inform D'Argo and we need to find out where John is being held. We must prevent the fake Scorpius from finding out that we know or he will blow us all to hezmana and even if we would survive somehow we will never find out where the real John and Scorpius are if we can't extract that information from either of the two fakes aboard Moya."  
  
Chiana looked at Aeryn and noticed the former Peacekeeper was really worried about Crichton and unhappy about this entire situation. She probably felt guilty. "Hey Aeryn, you know it's not your fault. None of us knew about this. Crichton was already captured before we destroyed the Command Carrier."  
  
"You may be right about that, Chiana, but I did bring Scorpius here. If he wouldn't be here, Moya would not be in danger," the Sebacean answered.  
  
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have known Crichton was captured and a frelling duplicate of him was here either. At least now we know we have to find the real Crichton."  
  
Aeryn looked at the Nebari girl. She knew Chiana was right. If the DRD hadn't recorded Scorpius' conversation he wouldn't have checked the data stores and inform her about the problems on Moya. "I guess," was all she said.  
  
That's when both of them heard a noise. "What the frell?" they both exclaimed.  
  
It took a micron before Aeryn realized what the noise was. "Out!" she yelled while grabbing the girl and shoving her toward the exit. "Moya is initiating starburst!"  
  
Both women rushed toward the exit as the starburst energy started to flow into the Chamber. 


	4. Chapter 3: The changing room

**Moya, Scorpius' cell**  
  
He had done it! He had been able to directly control Moya and initiate a starburst. He smiled to himself and nodded without realizing it. "That should deal with the current problem of Officer Sun's and the Nebari girl's persistence. Being the cautious man that he was, he glanced again at the monitoring device he had integrated into Moya. He wanted to make sure neither of them had escaped from the Starburst Chamber.  
  
Pilot's frantic voice came over the comms. "Starburst has been initiated! Chiana and Officer Sun are still in the Starburst Chamber!"  
  
Scorpius smirked while listening to the comms traffic. Apparently Pilot's announcement had stunned the rest of Moya's crew, since there were no communicated responses or even the sound of their movement down the tiers towards the Starburst Chamber. Scorpius heard the energy build up and there still was no indication that either of the two women had escaped the chamber. Now the energy was dissipating again. Scorpius knew that there would be no actual starburst because of the damage to the generator and that the resulting enormous outflows of energy would build up in the chamber itself causing anything not biomechanical to be burned severely. There would be nothing left of the women but small piles of ash.  
  
Now he heard through his monitor both Commander Crichton and Ka D'Argo calling for the two women and there was only silence where they expected some sort of reply. Scorpius confirmed their continued absense. He was feeling more and more convinced that his experiment with manipulating Moya's energies had worked. He could now see the two men racing toward the Starburst Chamber. He heard and saw their anguished beating on the Chamber's door until their fists were bruised and bloodied. Then, when the safety doors opened, only their appalled silence at the tableau in front of them.  
  
"Pilot, there's a fire in the Starburst Chamber! No sign of Aeryn or Chiana and they're not responding to their comms!" Crichton was audibly aghast. "Please tell me you saw them?" he pleaded.  
  
Pilot gave a negative response. Scorpius smiled to himself with satisfaction. He loved when a plan solved more than one problem at a time. Such elegance gave him an almost physical pleasure. In one well-planned tactic Officer Sun was removed as a potential problem. He did think that the death of the Nebari girl was an unfortunate coincidence, a casualty of war, but so be it. The same plan also made sure that the remainder of the crew would pay less attention to him since they would be mourning their friends and working to restore Moya to full capabilities. Lastly, Pilot would now have visible proof of how much control he really had of the Leviathan. Yes, a very satisfactory morning, indeed.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base**  
  
John was tired and hungry. He had been working on Scorpy's puzzle for two arns and had been unable to solve it. He was seriously considering sending Scorpy a message stating that he needed food as his hunger was interfering with his concentration. Just then the door of his room slid open and Scorpius entered with a tray filled with food. Not food cubes, but real food.  
  
"John, I hope you have successfully completed the equations I gave you," the Scarran half-breed said.  
  
John stared benignly up at the half breed, hiding his discomfort at this proof that he was trapped in this untenable situation, "What's your rush, Grasshopper? I would think that you would be using more of that amazing level of patience you are always nattering on to me about. I'm working as fast as I can, given the situation that my ribs are rubbing against my spine here. And just as I was get'n ready to phone for room service, here you come. I didn't know that you cared. What's your usual tip, 20 percent, right?"   
  
"Yes John, I do care about maintaining your energy levels and health," Scorpius responded, ignoring John's nonsense and sarcasm as if it had not been spoken. "If you die, I lose any hope of defeating the Scarrans. Now, you have been working for many arns and I'm sure you have progressed satisfactorily given this incentive. Show me what you have accomplished so far." He walked toward the data terminal and stood behind John, peering over his shoulder. "Hmm, not yet completed I see, but you seem to have done well. Please do continue after you are finished eating because you will not get a Second Meal until it is completely finished."  
  
John was just too hungry to even respond to Scorpy's threat and grabbed the tray instead. The food smelled great and tasted even better. A definite improvement over the food cubes he was expecting to receive.  
  
Scorpius watched the Human consume the rich food, nodding sagely. John's reaction was exactly what he expected of the emotional and undisciplined man. The man had no subtlety at all. Scorpius left the room confidant that rewarding Crichton with meals and other living standards would be an excellent motivation and would result in the human fully divulging his wormhole secrets.  
  
Scorpy absentmindedly hummed a tune as he reviewed his plans for the captive human scientist. Actual meals weren't physically necessary as the human was getting proper nutrition to stay alive, but since John was not aware of his real situation, maintaining motivation through personal interactions (the threats) and the sensual food (the rewards) would work perfectly. The elegance of the plan gave Scorpius much pleasure. He had covered all contingencies, creating puzzles within puzzles for the scientist to solve, and all the while Scorpius knew he held the controls. He understood John Crichton and would use the human's need for interaction and action.   
  
Inside the room, John was still enjoying his meal. It also gave him some time to think about his situation again. John chewed a piece of grolack and pondered the new facts at his disposal. First, it appeared Scorpius was not able to directly monitor his progress on the terminal, as he seemed actually surprised that John had not completed the equations.  
  
So, either that terminal was not linked with anything as an additional safety precaution to keep him here, or Scorpius was confident John was in no way able to escape. Either way, he could try to use the terminal to obtain information about where he was exactly.  
  
He figured his best shot was to complete the current puzzle as quickly as possible and see if he could obtain some more data on his situation. He quickly finished his meal and returned to the terminal to look at the equations again. The sooner he got these finished, the sooner he could start his own private project.

* * *

**Moya, Pilot's Den**  
  
The crew was gathered in Pilot's Den less than an arn after the unexpected starburst. Both Crichton and D'Argo looked devastated. The fire in the starburst chamber had been dealt with quickly. While putting out the flames both men had searched the entire chamber and adjacent ducts but did not find either of the two women.  
  
In addition, the two men had asked Pilot to lend hundreds of DRDs to search Moya's vast spaces in the hope that the women may have gotten out in time but were unable to communicate their safety due to faulty comms, After arns of listening to DRD chatter and Pilot's reports, the search ended in failure. There in Pilot's chamber, both D'Argo and Crichton had come to the awful conclusion that the girls were gone. There, on Pilot's console was the proof—the melted and charred comms badges that had been discovered among the ashes of the starburst chamber, near the door connecting it to the corridor outside.  
  
It appeared both girls had tried to escape but failed only a short distance away from safety. The starburst energy had probably burned them to the same ashes of what once was an auxiliary wall.  
  
"My apologies, Commander, Ka D'Argo," Pilot started, "but Moya and I do not understand why the starburst generator powered up."  
  
Pilot did have his suspicion of who had initiated the starburst, but he could not tell the men as Scorpius would certainly be listening in on this conversation.  
  
Crichton and D'Argo just kept gazing at nothing, not really listening to anything or anyone.  
  
"Pilot, could Aeryn or Chiana have accidentally initiated starburst themselves?" Rygel asked.  
  
"Not likely, Captain Rygel," Pilot answered, "Due to the damage in that area, none of the controls available in the actual chamber would have worked. Moya should have been the only one capable of initiating and controlling a starburst. Not even I could do that from my console."  
  
"So we have no idea why a starburst was initiated or by whom." It was a statement from Rygel and not a question. "We lost two crew members because of this."  
  
Nobody reacted to this remark, all lost in thought of what had happened and their two missing friends.

* * *

**Moya, Scorpius' cell**  
  
Scorpius was very pleased. His plan had worked perfectly. Officer Sun would not try to get him off Moya, Pilot and Moya were aware of his level of control and the crew would not bother him for a while.  
  
Now he could focus on his mission: keep the crew away from the real Scorpius and John. He reached for his communication device again. His other self would also enjoy the news, he was sure of it.  
  
While contacting his counterpart on the Gammak Base, he turned his thoughts to the mystery of the Kalish female. When he saw her the first time, he noticed her energy signature was not completely biological. He could come to only one conclusion, she was a bioloid too; and probably part of the Kalish resistance. She could come in vary handy in the near future.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base**  
  
John had completed the equations and did not record the results but kept them in his memory. He still was startled at his mental capabilities when it came to wormholes. He figured that whatever then Ancients had done when they stored the wormhole technology knowledge in his brain had ramped up his short and long term recall abilities, because he could now easily remember all of the long and difficult equations easily.  
  
He knew he had to be careful what he did record on the terminal and not slip and divulge too much, but just enough to convince the ghoul that he was giving up the goods. This was a tricky process, since the equations seemed to sometimes flow from his fingers without his conscious enabling. He would be dully careful just in case he wasn't able to destroy the data before he left.  
  
'Speaking of which,' John thought, 'let's see what I can find out about my current location.'  
  
He started his search by finding out what his data terminal could do. After some trial and error he found a way to have the terminal bring up something besides wormhole equations. The first item he encountered was generic information regarding his current location. It appeared he was aboard an orbiting Gammak Base. Good to know; if he wanted to escape he had to make sure he would have some transportation first.  
  
More searching revealed a roster of the docking bay. Apparently the Gammak Base was heavily visited by various cargo ships and, to some degree, Marauders. In any case, there would be a possible escape vehicle waiting for him, no matter what time of day or night he might try to escape.  
  
John switched back to the wormhole equations he was supposed to be working on to add one of the two dozen equations he already had figured out. If Scorpius was checking his progress on the project in real time, he would see a new equation every so often if he kept going back and forth during his search.  
  
John thought for a moment after he added the equation. Scorpius had said something about the door. Seeing that the half breed had apparently no trouble touching the door, there must be an on/off switch.  
  
John searched again through the data and found what he was looking for. There was indeed a paralysis-inducing device attached to the door mechanism, but the door could be opened from his terminal as well. Now that was interesting.  
  
Adding a new equation again, he was already trying to figure out what else he needed to know. A layout of the place seemed a good idea, as would be a general indication of how many personal he would have to deal with and more importantly what the best time would be to get out of dodge.  
  
His first search gave him a map of the place. His room appeared to be on the same level as the docking bay, with a fairly direct route to it using a small number of maintenance ducts. The entrance to the first maintenance duct was exactly outside his room.  
  
The second search gave him a duty roster. Just before sleep cycle appeared to be the best time to make a run for it. Checking with the docking bay roster, various ships would be available to him to hide on and get the hell out of here.  
  
Returning back to his equation screen, he absent mindedly added another one. Something was wrong. He got the information way to easily and his escape route seemed also way too convenient. The old adage "if something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is" popped into his head. Was it possible Scorpy wanted to give him the opportunity of escape just to see if he would go for it? Or did he just get really lucky? Either way, he would try to escape tonight and go from there.  
  
John continued his work on the equations. He had to complete this set or he wouldn't get lunch or supper. He could probably skip lunch without getting too hungry, but missing two meals would not be a good way to start one's escape.

* * *

**Moya, Data Stores**  
  
Sikozu had rummaged through Moya's data stores as she had done many days before when she had first arrived on this misfit ship. She prided herself on her knowledge of Leviathans, but after actually being on two different Leviathans she realized her knowledge was still severely lacking, though she would never say that to anyone. She just figured she would take the opportunity to further her research and increase her abilities.  
  
Her reason for going to the data stores today, however, was different. Ever since Pilot had said that only Moya could have initiated a starburst but was not responsible, she couldn't help thinking on the puzzle and the more she pondered the conundrum, the more bits and pieces of information about an alternative way to initiate a starburst seemed to fit together. She was certain there was a way to initiate a starburst when both ship and navigator couldn't or wouldn't.  
  
She had not mentioned this to anyone, mostly because she was unsure and didn't want the others to know her knowledge was lacking in anyway. She hadn't even told Scorpius, knowing she would be even more ashamed if he thought she wasn't as intelligent as she wanted everyone to think she was.  
  
Silently, she continued her search and stumbled on a recent recording in Pilot's Den that someone had tried to hide. That was odd. Why would Moya or Pilot try to hide some recording? Thinking about it she realized neither of them had tried to hide it, someone else had, someone with not enough knowledge to do it adequately.  
  
Not able to ignore it, she played the recording. What played out on the holoscreen was the arrival of Scorpius aboard Moya… nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly no reason for hiding it. Things changed when Scorpius entered the second time. This time he managed to subdue Pilot and used some sort of neural device to obtain information. Scorpius would most certainly have tried to hide this; if the crew found out, they would force him off of Moya.  
  
The recording continued and Scorpius entered for the third time. This is where things became interesting. It appeared both Scorpius and the human were bioloids, just as she was. Sikozu did have a problem with this information. The Kalish resistance had perfected bioloid technology and she should be able to "live" for at least a hundred cycles, but the bioloids manufactured by the Peacekeepers would barely last a cycle.  
  
Scorpius was her best chance of defeating the Scarran oppressors but the copy aboard Moya would not suffice. She would need to find out where the real Scorpius was located and make sure the Leviathan would go that way. She knew she could convince the crew easily.  
  
From what the bioloid Scorpius had said, it was clear he had obtained some level of control over the Leviathan, so he probably was responsible for initiating that starburst. Additionally, the real Crichton was captured by the real Scorpius. That would be more than enough incentive for the crew members to try and track the real Scorpius.  
  
With her knowledge of bioloids she should be able to reprogram both the human as well as the Scorpius bioloid or at least obtain the location of the real duo.  
  
Thinking about her plan, she found it would be best to start reprogramming Scorpius now. She would not be able to tell the others without him knowing and she didn't want to risk him damaging or blowing the Leviathan up with her still aboard.  
  
Confidently Sikozu walked out of Moya's Data Stores and made her way to Scorpius' cell.

* * *

**Starburst Chamber**  
  
John and D'Argo had decided to finish the work on the starburst generator, though both were not very happy to be there or work at all. Because of the incident this morning, nobody would be entering the Starburst Chamber unless another crew member was waiting outside to maintain contact with Pilot and the rest of the crew.  
  
John was currently working on the last conduit which would once again make Moya capable of performing starburst.  
  
"D?" John attracted the attention of his large friend. "You think this was an accident?"  
  
"I don't know, my friend," D'Argo answered from outside the chamber, "but I do not believe either Pilot or Moya would have deliberately initiated a starburst knowing two people were in the Starburst Chamber."  
  
"You think Scorpy's behind this?"  
  
"Possibly. I do not trust him, but he was locked in his cell at that time and I believe he does not have enough knowledge of Leviathans to be able to initiate a starburst."  
  
"Really? I mean, come one D, you know that bastard as well as I do. He's capable of a lot of things and I wouldn't put it past him. Besides, there's someone aboard Moya that does have that knowledge and is real cozy with the creep."  
  
"John, do not forget that Aeryn was the only reason he was even allowed to stay aboard. He would not murder his only means of staying here."  
  
John sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. All right, all done here." John grabbed his tools and walked towards the exit. "Do we have any reason for keeping Grasshopper aboard Moya?" he asked the Luxan warrior.  
  
"No. I think we never had a reason of letting him aboard Moya at all," the reply came. "I vote for forcing him off the ship at the next Commerce Planet."  
  
"Couldn't agree more," John said. "Pilot," he said into his comms, "we have repaired the starburst generator and have left the chamber. You and Moya can try out starburst whenever you are ready."  
  
"Yes, Commander Crichton. We will test immediately. Initiating Starburst... now!"  
  
D'Argo and John heard the energy building up in the chamber and felt the jump into hyperspace.  
  
"Good, we got it working again," John said. "Listen, I'm beat. I woke up this morning tired and it did not get any easier today. I'm gonna hit the sack and see y' all in the morning."  
  
"I understand, John. I will probably go to sleep soon as well," D'Argo replied to his friend as they both made there way to their quarters.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base**  
  
John lay on his bed and in spite of his best efforts, had nearly fallen asleep. He glanced at the terminal where it indicated the ship's time. He ran his hands over his head trying to pull himself together. It was time to set his escape plan in motion. He went to the data terminal and turned it on. He navigated to the page with the door controls and gave the command that would open his door.  
  
The door slid open on his command. He quickly made his way to the door and peered into the corridor. He didn't hear or see anyone so he started to search the entrance to his escape duct.  
  
Once he spotted it, he checked again if the corridor was empty and stepped out of his room to run to the duct. As soon as he left the room he found himself coming out of his refreshing chamber.  
  
"What the hell?" John wondered out loud. The door was still open and he could clearly see the corridor wall. He ran to the door and peeked out again. Stepping slowly out of his room and again as soon as he had completely stepped out, he found himself just outside his own refreshing chamber.  
  
"Ah, I see you have attempted your escape," Scorpius voice said, just before he appeared out of thin air in front of him. "How unfortunate the room you are in is not real."  
  
"No! No, no, no! I do not want more crap in my head. So what, you're Harvey 2.0?" John asked his nemesis.  
  
"Not quite, John," Scorpius replied, "although I did update the neural clone. After I realized you had been lying to me without showing so in your energy signature, I knew the neural clone had helped you and I had to take steps to avoid this reoccurring next time."  
  
"So where the hell are we? No, don't tell me, we're in your head now?"  
  
"Of course not John! I once tried to place you into my brain and you managed to remove quite a bit of information from my memory in very little time."  
  
"Care to 'splain that, Grasshopper?" John asked. As far as he knew he had never been in the creature's head.  
  
"The neural chip, John. We were not able to get all wormhole data from it through the interface. I decided to put that chip in my head and just as the chip had created a neural copy of my personality in your brain, it had obtained your personality which surfaced in my brain."  
  
"But he didn't play game and stole the wormhole knowledge from your brain. God, I wish I had witnessed that!"  
  
"I am sure you would have enjoyed it, John, but you can understand why I did not want you linked to my brain again. Instead, we have connected you to a computer which projects this room into your mind for you to interact with. Don't worry, your body is perfectly safe, although we've had to immobilize it so you would not accidentally move and harm yourself. You are being cared for and should last in this state a very, very long time."  
  
"I s'pose I should be grateful you haven't heard of Quake or Unreal," John muttered. "So how come you're here now? You linked up as well?" John asked Scorpius.  
  
"Yes, but only temporarily. The computer warned me the microt you opened your door. I hope you liked the escape scenario I had left you."  
  
Yep, when something seems too good to be true, it certainly is, John thought morosely. "I knew it was all just too convenient, but I still had to try it."  
  
"Of course, John. I would have been very disappointed if you had not tried to escape. Well, now that you are aware of your predicament, you can once again focus on the wormhole technology. Oh, I almost forgot. My copy contacted me earlier. It seems there has been a small incident aboard Moya. Officer Sun and the Nebari girl were making repairs in the Starburst Chamber. At some point a starburst was initiated. Unfortunately neither Officer Sun nor the Nebari could be warned in time and have perished." At that Scorpius vanished.  
  
John was stunned. If Scorpy had told him the truth, which was debatable, Aeryn and Chiana were now dead. This could not be happening. This was not fair. He screamed out his anguish. As the tears ran down his face he bashed his head against the wall repeatedly causing the blood to flow down his face. The pain was real, both physically and in the sharp jagged glass that had been his heart. Aeryn was gone. He now had no chance to reconcile. He wouldn't get the chance to show her that he and his twin were one and the same. He wouldn't ever see again her brilliant smile or run his hands through her hair as he again smelled its alluring scent of flowers. Here he was, stuck in deep freeze; part of a frelling computer game with no visible way out, no reprieve. He shook the blood out of his eyes and wrapped his arms around his suddenly aching chest. There was no justice in this universe. Pip, gone too. No more teasing his gray-skinned sister about her snurching and loose ways. He wished he had the chance to tell her how proud he was of her. Now he would never be able to feel her hugs or hair tugging again. He felt her loss almost as keenly as he had the loss of his mother all those years ago. He sighed and shuddered as he curled up, fetal position on his bed, lost in his despair. He didn't notice when the blood on his forehead disappeared or when the marks on the walls repaired themselves. Scorpius grinned as he watched John Crichton loose touch with reality as he lost his hope. All was as it was and would be.

* * *

**Moya, Scorpius' cell**  
  
Sikozu activated her bioloid link before she was anywhere near his cell. She would have to quickly halt his program before he would notice anything and while she was certain she could do it, she did not know the exact frequency of Scorpius' bioloid processing core.  
  
Determining that frequency may take one or two microns and she was well aware of he knew about her origins. She was told about the Scarran-Sebacean hybrid and his special vision. He would have seen her energy signatures and deduced she was a bioloid. So she could not just walk up to his cell and stand there for one or two microns to find the frequency and then take another two microns to shutdown his core.  
  
She had gone to her quarters first and left her comms there so he would not detect her coming. From a close enough distance she could then scan for his frequency and shutdown the core, without risking him detecting her and making rash decisions.  
  
She shifted her gravity to walk on the ceiling and stayed as close to the wall as possible so he could never see her. When she thought she was close enough, she began to scan for bioloid frequencies. She found only one nearby, so the Crichton bioloid was not here.  
  
Carefully, she scanned the bioloid a little deeper to determine which type she was dealing with. There were various types of bioloids and all required different approaches to deactivation. Good, it was a type she was familiar with. She had been right, these types would last no longer than 8 or 9 monens, depending on the required power to simulate the original life form. She sent the deactivation sequence to the bioloid and let herself into his cell after assuring that the bioloid was completely deactivated. Neither her link, nor her eyes saw any signs of an active bioloid.  
  
"Well Scorpius," Sikozu said out loud to nobody, "it appears you had not anticipated someone would be able to deactivate your copy so easily. Peacekeepers are so far behind on this technology, even farther than Scarrans."  
  
She wondered why she had said that out loud. Nobody was there to hear it and she really didn't want anyone to know anyway. She focused her link on the programming of the bioloid. The first thing to do was to remove the code that would destroy Moya if certain conditions were met. While she was aboard she really didn't want the Leviathan to be blown up.  
  
After that was done, she focused on the clone's memory banks and tried to ascertain the location of the real Scorpius. She was so focused on that job she paid no attention to her surroundings.  
  
"Hey Sputnik!" Sikozu heard from behind her. That was very stupid of her. She had completely forgotten the bioloid John would be making his way to Scorpius' cell around this time.  
  
"What've you done with Scorpy?" John asked. "Hey, Scorp, you OK?" he continued without waiting for the girl to give an answer. John realized Scorpius did not answer and seemed dead.  
  
Sikozu was trying very hard to realign her bioloid link to scan for John's frequency. Unfortunately she had trouble disconnecting from the Scorpius bioloid and she started to panic when she noticed John realized something was wrong.  
  
"What the hell have you done to him!" John shouted as he stepped into the cell.  
  
"She's obviously helping us," came a voice from behind him.  
  
John turned around and was immediately knocked down by a pantak jab.  
  
"Nice one, Aeryn!" Chiana said.  
  
"Thank you Chiana," the former Peacekeeper replied. "Now go and get the DRD from the duct," she continued while she pointed to the opened grating on the wall, while I secure this frelling copy."  
  
Chiana walked over to the wall to retrieve 1812 while Aeryn used some fasteners to bind Crichton's hands.  
  
Sikozu was still stunned to see the two of them here. "You escaped," was the only thing she could say.  
  
"Of course we did, otherwise we would not be here right now," Aeryn replied.  
  
"But how... where did you... why did you...?" It was unusual for her to not be able to form complete intelligent questions but she was still too stunned to think clearly.  
  
"Aeryn removed both of our comms before we ran out of the chamber," Chiana started to explain. "She figured that Scorpy tried to kill her because she wanted to kick his eema off of Moya and if he couldn't detect our comms he would think we were dead."  
  
"You knew about his surveillance, then?" Sikozu asked, finally having found her equilibrium. She had also finally disconnected from the Scorpius bioloid and started a linkage with the Crichton bioloid.  
  
"Yes," Aeryn said, "this DRD recorded one of Scorpius' communications and had proceeded to gain more information and relayed it all to me early this morning in the Starburst Chamber. John caught me, but his programming executed the sequence to switch from his night time personality to his day time personality and he did not have the time to carry out his programming to kill me."  
  
"Crichton has indeed two distinct programming sections." Sikozu said. Seeing their puzzled looks she realized she had said too much. Now she would have to explain her origins. "I am a bioloid from the Kalish resistance. I am an advanced model and have the ability to link with other bioloids directly. That's how I deactivated the Scorpius bioloid."  
  
"Can you alter his programming?" Aeryn asked.  
  
Sikozu nodded. "I already did so with Scorpius and was busy scanning his memory to find the location where the real Scorpius and Crichton are before this bioloid surprised me. I am changing Crichton's programming now."  
  
"Did you find out where they are?" Aeryn asked again.  
  
Sikozu nodded. "Yes, I found it just when Crichton arrived. I could not sever the link with Scorpius fast enough, otherwise I would have deactivated Crichton as well."  
  
"Hey Aeryn, maybe-maybe we should inform the rest of the crew now?" Chiana really needed to assure D'Argo. She had seen his reaction when he and Crichton had arrived at the Starburst Chamber and from his posture during the day, Chiana had deduced he was really upset.  
  
"I agree." Aeryn said as she grabbed Crichton's comms. She was about to use it when she realized this might be too much of a shock for the rest of the crew. "Perhaps it's better if you wake them and ask to come here." She gave the comms to Sikozu.  
  
Sikozu accepted the comms. "Captain Rygel, Ka D'Argo, and Noranti, could you please come to Scorpius holding cell. Crichton is already here."  
  
Sikozou looked towards Aeryn after making her announcement. "I have the exact coordinates of the Space Station Gammak Base where the real Scorpius and Crichton are located."  
  
"Good," Aeryn replied. "As soon as the crew arrives, inform Pilot. We are going to rescue John and make sure Scorpius will not harm anyone ever again."  
  
Sikozu nodded again, although she would not let anyone harm Scorpius. She needed him to defeat the Scarrans and nobody would come between them. But as long as they were heading in the same direction she would work with them.  
  
"What is happening here?" D'Argo's voice came from around the corner.  
  
Aeryn and Chiana spun around and grinned widely as D'Argo came around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw them both.  
  
"Chiana! Aeryn!" he exclaimed. He quickly covered the last distance and grabbed them both in a bear hug. "It is so good to see you alive!"  
  
"Hey, ah, D'Argo, I-I am really happy to see you to, but could-could you apply a little less pressure?" Chiana asked.  
  
D'Argo released them both and looked at them. "Where the frell have you two been?" As his eyes went to the cell and noticed both John and Scorpius he continued, "And what the frell is wrong with those two?"  
  
"We will explain once every one has arrived." Aeryn said. "Perhaps we should then proceed toward Pilot's Den so he will know we survived as well."  
  
Just then the rest of the crew arrived at the cell. Though Rygel was very happy to seem them both alive and well he grumbled, "Oh yotz! I suppose you will want your possession back?"  
  
"It's good to see you too Ryge!" Chiana said.  
  
"Fine, now that everyone is here, perhaps we should move to Pilot's Den so we will not have to tell the whole story again and again." Aeryn said. The crew nodded their agreement.  
  
"D'Argo could you take Scorpius with you? I will carry John."  
  
D'Argo moved into the cell and grabbed Scorpius. He threw him over his shoulder. Aeryn nodded her thanks to the tall Luxan and then carefully picked John, shouldering him, set a rapid pace up to the Den.  
  
She was looking forward to seeing the gentle symbiote again and to assure him they were all right. Tonight they would tell the entire frelling story and bring the rest of the crew up to date. Then it would be time to make plans and go and rescue John.  
  
She hoped he was all right. He had to be. The first thing she would tell him after rescuing him would be that she was pregnant. She would make amends for her total selfishness in forsaking him in her grief over the death of the other. She would let him know that she felt there was no difference between the two of them. She loved John Crichton. She had learned from her mistake with this copy. This copy had reacted the way the real John would have, that she knew for certain. That would not happen again. She guessed that there was a second chance at everything in life if she was willing to grasp it.  
  
They arrived at Pilot's Den and Aeryn and Chiana stepped inside first. "Hello Pilot," Aeryn said.  
  
The large creature looked up in surprise. "Officer Sun, Chiana! You are alive!"  
  
Aeryn smiled. "Pilot, we were never dead. Everything is okay now. You and Moya did nothing wrong. It was that frelling Scorpius. You are safe now." Aeryn felt a great need to comfort the gentle being who served as their caregiver. Pilot reached out with a tentative claw and Aeryn grasped it with both her hands and placed it against her cheek.   
  
"Aeryn Sun, Moya and I are grateful that you are safe. I could not warn you about Scorpius because of the threats he made against Moya. I feel ashamed of my actions."  
  
"Pilot, put it behind you now. We are in this together. We will save John together."   
  
Aeryn looked back to the entrance where D'Argo, Noranti, Sikozou, and Rygel stood. They had waited to give Aeryn and Chiana the privacy they needed to reconcile with Pilot. When they all had gathered in front of Pilot's console and had placed the bioloids against one of Moya's walls, Aeryn and Chiana proceeded to tell them the whole story up to the point where they had rescued Sikozu from John in Scorpius' cell. Sikozu informed them of her bioloid origins as well, knowing full well that if she wouldn't, Aeryn or Chiana would.  
  
Aeryn had a plan to rescue Crichton. It would take all their ingenuity and guile. Sikozou gave Pilot the coordinates to the Gammak Base while Aeryn filled the others in on her idea. It would take at least 16 arns to get there, 16 long arns. They would sleep, eat and each would be able to loose themselves in their thoughts for awhile.  
  
Tomorrow would be a day of action, of that the crew was certain. 


	5. Chapter 4: Spirits Awake

**Moya, D'Argo's quarters**  
  
D'Argo awoke, immediately feeling the soft body of Chiana next to him. Thinking she had been killed the previous morning had shocked him to his core. He realized when he discovered she had survived that he truly had forgiven the girl for her betrayal with his son. He smiled at Chiana's relief and immediate acquiescence when he insisted she stay in his quarters for the night. He was scared for her, scared something like that would happen again but this time for real. She would never accept the pressure of his true feelings, so he kept his terrible fears to himself. He would be there to protect her.  
  
He turned his head to look at her sleeping form. She looked so content lying next to him, her grey body molded to his back. He lay back on the pillows, throwing his arms over his head as he considered his new understanding of his Nebari lover's actions over the past cycles. He truly accepted Chiana as Chiana and felt a peace settle over his soul. He couldn't hold her like a Luxan. Chiana rebelled because it was her nature and upbringing. Chiana had become aware of his dreams and his intent to ask her to be bonded with him. He should have known bonding was not for her, nor living a quiet life on a farm. She was a girl who needed to live and do things in her life, not being cooped up on a planet. He could see now that such a life would be too close to the Nebari mindcleansing she had escaped from. One thing he was sure of and that was that she did love him. For now that would be enough. He would always want to live the life of a farmer with her, but he could wait until he saw signs that she wanted it too, however long it takes.  
  
He let his mind wander to the current frelled situation. He cursed to himself, despairing his loss of honor. It would seem that he had totally lost his ability to protect his friend, if not his brother. Crichton had been captured some time ago and replaced by a copy and nobody on Moya prevented this disaster. Worst of all, he had never noticed a thing. Looking back he had seen the signs of changes in the man but dismissed them as caused by the few monens he had lived alone and the fact that Aeryn had left him.  
  
They were lucky the DRD and Chiana's persistent distrust of Scorpius had revealed the truth, otherwise they might have never found out about it, although the Kalish girl had insisted the two copies would have stopped working after eight or nine monens. But if that had happened, they might not have figured out the location of the real John.  
  
D'Argo tried to look on the "bright side" as John was so fond of saying. He smiled at his Crichtonism. The human rubs off on everyone. There were some positive points about this situation. When they got John back, he would not know or have experienced what that tralk Grayza had done to his copy or that D'Argo had asked him to let it happen again. He still felt bad about that. He knew how John felt about such things and yet he had asked him to do it again anyway. Sure, it was the only way they could get out of their situation on Arnesk, but it was cruel to ask it of John.  
  
The other positive point was that he would also not know or have experienced the pain that Aeryn had left him and that in the end each member of Moya's crew had abandoned him to seek out their own fortunes, truly abandoned him to himself and that fekkik clone all alone on the dying leviathan. D'Argo knew that he had needed to leave and at the time had worried at how John would cope with his loneliness. He had never expected Aeryn to just dump John and run. He sighed and then thought at again at how at last he had the chance to speak to Aeryn about his feelings. He was no longer angry at her. He understood her need to run from her grief. Yesterday's talk with Aeryn was gratifying. He and Aeryn reached a renewed level of trust. He had finally seen how afraid she was for the real John in the hands of Scorpius and all alone. She was clearly in love with the man and she would kill anyone who tried to get between them.  
  
D'Argo snorted quietly so as not to wake Chiana. Aeryn truly was the poster child for frontal assaults (John's words again). The plan Aeryn had told them about last night was a very straight-forward-get in, get John, blast their way out. While D'Argo definitely loved shooting things, this was not a plan that would allow them to successfully rescue John out of his current predicament. They needed a better plan, like the ones John always came up with.  
  
That last thought gave him pause. Why couldn't they use a plan of John's? After all they still had a copy of John who was able to come up with the same insane looking plans as the real John. He would discuss this with Aeryn during First Meal.  
  
He felt Chiana stir. She woke up and stretched out lazily. Turning her head she looked at him and smiled. "Hi," she said simply.  
  
He smiled back at her. "Good morning," he replied. "I hope you slept well," he responded with a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
"Perfectly," she answered with a mischievous look, "but next time you may wear me out a little more. It seems I woke up a little early."  
  
"Well, I am sure we can think of something to do before we go to First Meal," he answered while turning fully to her to hold her in his arms. "Do you have any suggestions?"  
  
"Hmm," she replied as she kissed him, "I can think of one or two things we could do."

* * *

**An arn later**  
  
Chiana and D'Argo made their way to the Center Chamber. They were a little later than had been agreed upon last night, but Chiana didn't really care about that. She was very happy to finally have the Luxan warrior back in her life.  
  
The past arn had once again showed her how creative the two of them could be. The smile she already wore got a little bigger just remembering their inventiveness. For once she was glad her species did not show they were blushing, because even though she didn't blush easily about this subject, she was now.  
  
Chiana realized she had frelled things up when she frelled Jothee. She had done it because she found out D'Argo wanted to take her as his life-mate and live a quiet life on a farm. That was not her style; at least she thought so at the time. Lately she had been thinking about the life they all lived, and she realized she did want to live a quiet life.   
  
Having D'Argo as a life-mate was not something she disliked at all, not even then. She may have lived a loose life, she always wanted to find that one special person that could be her life-mate and the Luxan warrior had appeared to be the one from early on. Well, him or Crichton, but the latter had clearly indicated that was never going to happen and was clearly in love with Aeryn.  
  
The thought of her human friend made her think back to what she had learned the previous day. How could she not have noticed the difference? The Crichton she had found on that dying Leviathan had been clearly more distant and distracted, she had even noticed it then. She sighed inwardly, realizing thoughts like these did not help the current situation at all and besides that, nobody seemed to have come to that conclusion.  
  
Today they would go and rescue him. At least that was their intention. She was not so sure about Aeryn's plan was going to work out all right. Perhaps she needed to talk about it with the former Peacekeeper.  
  
She knew it would take another eight arns before they'd even reach the space station where John was being held, so there would be enough time for all of them to come up with a better plan, one that didn't involve bursting in and blowing things to hezmana. As she and D'Argo entered Center Chamber she decided to ask the entire crew about it during First Meal.

* * *

Aeryn was already sitting at the table when Chiana and D'Argo entered Center Chamber. Aeryn could tell by the way they looked at each other that they were back together again. She smiled a small smile at their continuous touching. Aeryn did not begrudge them their happiness, even though it made her feel a little sad about the current situation with John.  
  
She had been thinking of him a lot these past few arns. Barely able to sleep, she kept thinking about this situation, hoping he was all right. She wondered if he was in any pain or if he felt abandoned because they hadn't come for him earlier, though she knew from one of the recordings of Scorpius that John had apparently been kept unconscious most of the time.  
  
"He-he's all right, Aeryn," Chiana said as she took a seat opposite of the ex-Peacekeeper. "You-you know Crichton, he's probably irritating fek-face and trying to escape. Besides, in a few arns we'll be there to help him get out."  
  
Aeryn looked up at the Nebari girl and gave her a wistful smile as she grabbed the girl's hand. "Thank you," was all Aeryn could say to her. She knew Chiana just tried to make her feel better and it was clear the gray girl was not completely assured about John's wellbeing.  
  
D'Argo took a seat next to Chiana and laid his hand reassuringly on Aeryn's. "I vow to you we will free him and make sure Scorpius will not bother him again."  
  
Aeryn nodded her appreciation to the Luxan warrior. She was counting on both Chiana and D'Argo to help her out with this problem. Some of her time had been spent thinking about the impending rescue operation. She was feeling less and less certain about the chances of success if they went with that plan.  
  
D'Argo cleared his throat. "Uh, Aeryn," he began hesitantly, "you know how I love blowing things up, but I am not sure if this is the best way of rescuing John." There, he said it. He was surprised he was able to tell her so soon, but even more so when he saw Aeryn nod in agreement.  
  
"I have been having the same thoughts, D'Argo," Aeryn answered, "but I am uncertain how else we can do it. Normally we rely on John to come up with a plan, usually one that seems to go wrong at first but always work out in the end." That last was said with sad smile.  
  
"But, we have a Crichton!" Chiana exclaimed before D'Argo could answer the ex-Peacekeeper. "He-he behaves and thinks the same as the real one. Couldn't we have him come up with a plan?" she asked, a little less sure of herself when she saw the look on D'Argo's face.  
  
"I had come to that same conclusion," the Luxan warrior said. "Sikozu has reprogrammed him so he can't harm us. I am sure we can convince him to help us retrieve the real John."  
  
"I don't know, D'Argo," Aeryn said. "Are you sure we can trust him or her for that matter?"  
  
"Aeryn, she deactivated Scorpius and although she is an arrogant wall-crawler with strange eating habits, she has treated us straight so far," Chiana exclaimed. "The frelnik gave us all the information about the Gammak Base and Crichton's situation we needed and I may be crazy for saying so, but I think we really don't have a reason to distrust her."  
  
"Sikozu," Aeryn commed the Kalish, "would you be so kind as to come up to the Center Chamber. We need your expertise." Sikozou sauntered into the Center Chamber a few microts later and paused at the door, surprised to see everyone assembled in one place looking so serious. Aeryn looked at Sikozou and patted the seat next to herself and asked, "We were just discussing the fact that no one feels that my plan for getting Crichton out of the Gammak Base will not work. We wanted to ask you a question. Can we trust the bioloid John to help us now that you have altered his programming?"   
  
"You can," Sikozu answered. "I have removed all programming that stated he needed to keep all of you away from the location where the real Crichton and Scorpius are located. Furthermore, he will now have only his day time personality, although I did inject the knowledge of his bioloid origins."  
  
"Good," Aeryn answered. "I think you should reactivate him. We need his unique ability to plan for this frelling impossible mission."  
  
"I think you are very wise. Although this is a bioloid version of Crichton and I never had the pleasure of meeting the real one, each of his farbout plans have eventually worked, unlike any of your own. Crichton can be amazingly naïve and dense about things pertaining to you Aeryn, but I believe he can come up with a proper plan." Sikozu stated while curling her fingers around the tendrils of hair that framed her face. "I can only hope that the bioloid Crichton is enough like the real one to do the ultimate thing. I fear that any plan that has any chance of working will necessitate the bioloid sacrificing himself for the real Crichton. I am not certain that the false version will be willing to sacrifice his life for that of the other."  
  
"He will be if he is a true copy," Aeryn replied. At Sikozu's doubtful look, she continued, "look, he is the same as the real John, right? He has the same memories and characteristics?" At Sikozu's confirming nod she finished, "then he will do this, as I know the real John would... and has."  
  
"If you think this is wise, I will reactivate him later. But I think we would be much better off reactivating Scorpius, who is so much more intelligent."  
  
At that D'Argo snarled. "How could you possibly think that would be better? That frelling half-breed is the cause of all of this and you suggest we reactivate him again?"  
  
"I have removed the harmful part of his programming," Sikozu replied. "He may also have more accurate information about the situation on the Gammak Base. And if he does not make contact with his counterpart soon, the real Scorpius may realize something is wrong and move away or enhance security."  
  
D'Argo had to concede the Kalish on that point. The only way for this to work out at all was to make sure the real Scorpius would not realize what was going on aboard Moya. "And you are sure he will not inform the real Scorpius about the current situation?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes," Sikozu confirmed, "his programming has been altered to aid us in getting to the station without being noticed. His programming will initiate a self-destruct if he should disperse dangerous information or be captured by the real Scorpius."  
  
D'Argo looked at Aeryn and Chiana to gauge their feelings. Both nodded their assent. "Very well," he said to the Kalish. "Both of them will be reactivated as soon as we are done with First Meal."  
  
"Ahem, excuse me," Rygel said as he entered the Center Chamber, "but it seems none of you are taking into account my captaincy."  
  
"Not now, Rygel," Aeryn stopped the Hynerian's complaint.  
  
"Yeah, shut up frog-face!" Chiana chimed in.  
  
"If you wanted to be the one taking these decisions, perhaps it would have been a good idea to be here on time," D'Argo said.  
  
"Be that as it may," Rygel responded, "but I found it prudent to check on the current state of affairs regarding both bioloids who were left in Pilot's Den, unsupervised I might add." With much satisfaction Rygel noticed that none of them had even thought about that. "Do not worry, neither of them had moved a dench. Pilot also informed me Moya was able to shorten the trip an arn or two, so we should arrive in approximately five and a half arns."

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base, Scorpius' private chamber**  
  
Scorpius sat at his ready desk and impatiently drummed his fingers on the shining surface, awaiting a call from his bioloid counterpart. He had implemented a protocol where he could not contact the copy directly but could only be contacted by it, this of course to eliminate the crew of Moya finding out inadvertently. Up to now, the copy had been able to contact him every solar day around First Meal, but he was well aware of the interest the Kalish girl had shown in his copy. If she was near his cell, or anyone else for that matter, the bioloid version of him would not be able to contact him.  
  
He was a patient man, but he valued the information he got from his counterpart aboard Moya highly. He could feel the steam rising from his coolant rods as he contemplated his lack of knowledge concerning the activities on the Leviathan Moya. This being just the first time in the weeken his bioloid self had been aboard the living ship, he had no reason for complaining. He was sure he would be contacted as soon as the bioloid had a chance.  
  
'Time to see how John is doing,' Scorpius thought. He punched in a couple of commands at his console and was instantly rewarded by the sight of the human getting out of bed and sitting despondently on the edge of the cot, his arms dangling over his knees, head bent. Scorpius smiled as he remembered how the human had reacted a few arns previously when he found out he was trapped in a virtual reality system; living his life at the total mercy of the Peacekeepers and without any way to connect with reality. Scorpius reflected on the successful ramping up of his experiment and the violent reaction from the human was when Scorpius informed him of the unfortunate accident that had killed Officer Sun and the Nebari girl. Scorpius smiled at the memory of how human had started crying and abusing his virtual self when the true impact of the news hit him. It was obvious the man was losing his grip on reality sliding into a deep depression. Scorpius knew he could exploit John's emotional turmoil to gain access to the wormhole technology that much faster. What more had the human left to loose? Scorpius would take him to the edge and then...after dangling him there, pull Crichton back and then repeat the process over and over again. Yes, Scorpius was on the right track. Humans were so predictable..  
  
Scorpius switched the console to the camera in the cell that held the real John Crichton. He noted that the tell-tales blinked green indicating that the Human's health remained stable. John's body lay on a metal table, his calves, thighs, wrists, forearms, chest, and head banded by clear plastic straps holding him in place while thin wires ran from holes bored directly into his brain into a large panel. Lights blinked on the computer console in concert with the movement of John's eyes under their coating of jell that kept them moist but unseeing. But there was no other motion from the man on the table. Other larger tubes ran from medical stations into the man's arms and neck feeding him the nutrients he needed to stay alive as well as the paralyzing agent that kept him immobile. Crichton seemed to be in some discomfort as reflected by the light sheen of sweat that covered his naked torso and the cords that stood out on hjs neck as well as how his open mouth strained in a silent scream. Scorpius smiled. All was as it should be.There would be no way that John's undisciplined mind could plan an escape and wreak havoc on this Gammak Base. Scorpius switched back to the virtual room.  
  
He nodded once at the view of the virtual John in his misery. He would give John a few more microts of grieving during the time John thought of as "morning", and entered the commands into the console that instructed the computer John was linked to, to delay activation of the new puzzle for an arn. Scorpius kept the console showing the virtual room John was in so he could keep an eye on what was happening while he waited for his counterpart to contact him.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base, virtual room**  
  
John got up slowly from his fugue on the edge of the bed. All he felt was loneliness and pain. He shook his head to try to clear away the cobwebs and strong disorientation. Gawd, he thought, I am in deep dren as the memory of the previous "day" rushed back into his memory. Here I am in Scorpius' clutches, in a virtual room with seemingly no way out. Unfortunately his memory also supplied him with the awful news about his lover and friend. Aeryn and Pip were dead, and if he could believe Scorpy, they were killed by Scorpius' copy. John sighed in despair and rubbed his reddened eyes. Could life get any worse?  
  
He shook his head in bewilderment at what he could imagine was going on on Moya. He still couldn't understand how Scorpy, even a clone of Scorpy got on Moya in the first play and then why his crewmates would allow that monster to stay, even if he had saved Aeryn's life. And now that same monster had killed his guiding star and his sister of the heart. He started to sob again. It just wasn't fair; two of his favorite people had died because of his actions. No, that was not true; it was not his fault or his actions, it was because of Scorpius' unrelenting thirst for wormhole knowledge.  
  
"You frelling, sick bastard!" he yelled. "But believe me Scorpy, you will pay for this with your life! And those wormhole equations are going to be erased as soon as I figure out how to do that. I have nothing to live for anymore and I don't care what happens. I will not let you win! Did you hear me Scorp? You will not win!"  
  
Having this outburst helped clear his mind and he stopped crying. Maybe D'Argo and the others would figure out that Scorpius was behind the accident that had killed the two women. If so, they would kick him of Moya. Not that it would do him any good, but maybe luck would bring them in his direction, once Xerox-Scorpy was gone.  
  
Feeling a little better, he completely got of his bed and headed for the shower. He needed a clear mind if he was going to thwart Scorpy, and getting cleaned up and have something to eat would certainly help.  
  
The water was a little cold to his linking, but there were no controls to adjust the temperature. Suddenly he noticed the water became warmer. He suddenly recalled the first time he awoke here; the lights had come up when he thought it was too dark to see anything. Was it possible he had some control over his own environment? If so, could he maybe exert some more control that could help his escape from this nightmare? This had some potential, provided Scorpy would not be able to tap into his thoughts through the computer core, and it certainly lifted his spirits.  
  
He finished his shower quickly and went to get something to eat. He found nothing in his galley. 'Great,' he thought, 'probably need to complete some equation first to get something to eat.' Then he remembered his experience with the light and water and focused on a nice breakfast. No luck this time, as nothing appeared.  
  
Damn, he was hungry. He went to his console so he could work on whatever Scorpius had given him, but the console did not seem to work. Strange, no equations to work on, but more importantly he could also not send a message to Scorp to ask for some food.  
  
Contemplating his options, he suddenly discovered that he was no longer hungry. This made sense of course. Since he wasn't really here and his body was fed intravenously, he could not really be hungry. The hungry feeling must have been simulated by the computer. It also was completely in line with his earlier experience with the shower temperature and the lights: thinking it is too dark turns on the light, thinking the water was too cold turns up the temperature, thinking you are hungry makes the feeling go away.  
  
So, he could not think about something he wanted directly, but he could think about things he did not like. That was definitely something to remember. He was sure he could still use his control to help him get out but he had to do it in a roundabout way.  
  
With nothing left to do, John went to his couch and made himself comfortable. He was sure Scorpy would turn up sooner or later to make more demands.

* * *

**Moya, Pilot's Den**  
  
The entire crew was assembled in Pilot's Den. D'Argo and Aeryn where holding their weapons at the ready while Sikozu was using her link to reactivate the two bioloids who where sitting against one of Moya's golden ribs.  
  
"There is really no need to worry," Sikozu said indignantly. "There is no harmful programming left in either of them."  
  
"There is always a reason to worry," D'Argo answered. "Just get those frelling machines working again."  
  
Sikozu refrained from reacting. They were all so deficient there was simply no purpose in giving a reaction. She focused her link on the human bioloid first and initiated the power up sequence. These bioloid types were not so fast in powering up and it would take several microns before there would be a sign of it. There it was. His eyes opened but through the link Sikozu could detect it was still working on initiating internal systems. The eyes were used as simple diagnostic tool for the core.  
  
For a moment Sikozu contemplating telling the others what was going on, but thought there would be little point in it as they simply wouldn't understand the process of activation. The link informed her that the bioloid was finally initialized properly and all systems indicated to be within parameters.  
  
She disconnected from the human bioloid and aligned her link to the Scarran-Sebacean bioloid. Once she was connected she made an additional check when she thought she detected his awareness, but the systems where all still powered down. She reactivated the bioloid and kept track of the entire start up process.  
  
"Hey there guys!" John greeted the crew. "What's up with the hardware?" he asked when he noticed a pulse rifle and a Qualta Blade pointing at him. At the same time his memory provided him an overview of what had happened. "Never mind, I remember. Can't really blame you for not trusting me."  
  
"You should be aware that I will shoot you the moment you try something," Aeryn said to him. Frell, why did he have to look and act like her John? She was careful not to show she was having a difficult time dealing with him.  
  
John just looked at her and nodded. "Can I ask why you even bothered with reactivating me? It's not like you need me if you want Scorp to think everything is just peachy."  
  
"We need a plan to get the real John back," Aeryn answered, being careful to lay an emphasis on the word real. "You are usually the one to come up with a plan."  
  
"Right," John answered, "I have to come up with a plan to rescue myself, gotcha." He looked sideways to see the bioloid Scorpius coming about. "How long has Grasshopper been asleep?" he asked.  
  
"About 11 arns," D'Argo replied. He too had a little difficulty dealing with the bioloid John. "Why?"  
  
"'Cause real Scorp will be expecting a communication with him," John stated. "I assume you altered his programming as well?" he asked to the Kalish girl sitting between him and Scorpius.  
  
"Yes," Sikozu answered, somewhat distractedly, "he will no longer harm the crew or the Leviathan."  
  
"So, he's on our side as well?" John asked. At her confirming nod he continued, "Good, I think he should contact real Scorp ASAP so the real deal is not going to high tail it out of here. Speaking of which, we need to set a course towards the station. I don't have the exact coordinates but..."  
  
"We are already on a course toward the space station," Aeryn interrupted him. At his questioning gaze she explained, "Sikozu obtained the coordinates directly from his memory," as she pointed her pulse rifle toward the Scorpius clone who had shown signs of wanting to stand up. "I suggest you stay where you are." She said to him.  
  
"Officer Sun, I believe John just explained why I am needed," Scorpius answered as he got to his feet. "Killing me would not help you obtaining the real John Crichton." He noticed they all came to that same conclusion. "Do not worry. Sikozu has seen to it I will have no choice but to help you."  
  
At their confused looks Sikozu explained, "Any act of betrayal will induce the same pain he would feel if his cooling rods would stop functioning and heat up his brain. It would not harm him, but every incident will increase the pain significantly."  
  
"I believe it would be wise for me to contact my counterpart at the Space Station," Scorpius said. "It is vital I do this from a quiet environment." Raising his hand to forestall the objections from the crew he continued, "I understand you will want at least someone you trust with me. That is acceptable, but that person must remain absolutely quiet."  
  
"Hah, that's me!" Chiana said. "I'm used to being quiet when I snoop around." Seeing the doubtful look on Scorpius' face, "I bet ya didn't even knew I watched and heard ya talking to the other Scorpius that mornin' before you tried to kill Aeryn and me," she challenged him. At his surprised expression she just nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, but Pilot, please make sure my comms will not go off during that time. Or," she added at seeing D'Argo's worried expression, "maybe you could make my comms send to the other's comms the whole time?"  
  
"Certainly Chiana," the symbiote answered while his claws moved to the comms section of the numerous controls around him.  
  
D'Argo quickly moved to Chiana's side and softly asked her, "please be careful, Chiana."  
  
Chiana put her gloved hand to the side of his face. "I will D'Argo. And you'll be able to hear at all times what is happening. Don't worry, fek-face won't do anything; Sikozu made sure of that." She quickly kissed him and followed Scorpius who was already walking out of Pilot's Den.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base, Scorpius' private chamber**  
  
'What was that human up to?' Scorpius asked himself. John had sat down on his couch three quarters of an arn earlier and had not moved a dench since. No sobbing, no talking, nothing but just sit there, waiting.  
  
Any microt now, his console would power up and give him a new task to work on. Scorpius picked up his neural link to the computer, preparing himself to talk to the human who would undoubtedly ignore the task presented to him.  
  
At the same time he received a communication from his counterpart aboard Moya. It was only a spoken message in which he stated he had not much time and only informed him the crew was still mourning the loss of the two females but did not suspect anything yet.  
  
Scorpius assumed the counterpart had little time because of the Kalish female who had increasingly spent more and more time with his bioloid self. That may become a problem in the near future, but for now was acceptable.  
  
He focused again on his console and noticed the human's virtual console had powered up. As expected, the human looked at it and then went back to his couch. Scorpius smiled in anticipation of what was going to happen soon. He activated his link and entered the virtual room John was in.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base, virtual room**  
  
John had seen the console power up. Being a little curious as to what Scorpy wanted, he had walked towards it and noticed it was just his next assignment. John sighed and returned to his couch and sat down. He just couldn't get up the energy to play Scorpy's games. Screw the half-breed, he just wouldn't play. Undoubtedly Grasshopper would show up soon enough.  
  
It took less than a microt before Scorpius indeed appeared. "Ever heard of knocking?" John asked him. "It's very rude to just enter a person's room without knocking and waiting for an invitation. Not that I would have invited you in..."  
  
"John, why are you refusing to work on this new task?" Scorpius asked, pointing at the console and ignoring John's remarks. "You will not receive any food until you have shown considerable progress."  
  
"Doesn't matter," John answered, "not feeling very hungry today anyway. I think I can skip one or two meals without dying."  
  
Scorpius smiled. All was going exactly as he had predicted. "John, do you really think holding out on food is the only form of persuasion I have?"  
  
"I don't care. Whatever you have planned, bring it on!" John answered defiantly. "With any luck it will kill me."  
  
"Oh no, John. This form of persuasion will not kill you... physically. You will find out soon enough. Just remember you can make it all go away by working on wormhole equations during the times the console is on." At that he vanished again.  
  
"Thanks for stopping by," John muttered. "Please do stay away from now on." He started to think about what Scorpy might have planned for him. He still had seen neither hide nor hair from Harvey and he wondered if that would have something to do with it. Of course it was possible the clone was unable to reach him in here. John sighed. He would just have to wait and see what was going to happen.

* * *

**Moya, Pilot's Den**  
  
Chiana and the bioloid Scorpius entered Pilot's Den. D'Argo immediately walked towards Chiana and maneuvered himself between her and Scorpius, holding a protective arm around her waist. Chiana smiled at the obvious gesture of protection and love and she leaned into his embrace. Once they reached the area in front of Pilot's console Crichton started to talk.  
  
"Right, now that Scorpy is no longer worrying about us we can focus on the rescue plan. First of all we need to know how we can free the real me, but I don't know enough about John's situation on the Gammak Base. Grasshopper, can you tell us anything?"  
  
Scorpius nodded. "As you know, John, the real you has been hooked up to a computer core to simplify dealing with him." At the shocked reactions he realized they didn't know anything about the situation inside the space station.  
  
Aeryn was having great difficulty not showing her emotions. All she could see with her mind's eye was John strapped down to a table covered with electrodes and wires. It was not fair. Why did everyone keep doing things like this to such a gentle man? Her mind was so focused on these thoughts that she nearly missed Scorpius' further explanation.  
  
"John is kept paralyzed with drugs and fed intravenously while his mind is continuously linked to a virtual reality system. As a consequence, he is not able to move physically, only in his perceived environment. A sudden disconnection from the core should be prevented as it will do considerable damage to his brain, resulting in a condition that resembles the Living Death of Sebaceans."  
  
"How can we get him out?" Aeryn asked in a restrained voice. She was aware of what her initial plan might have done. They might have shutdown the core during the fight and even if they hadn't, she would have ripped every connection between John and the computer core without thinking about the consequences.  
  
"He must be persuaded to leave the room," Scorpius stated. At their unbelieving stares he added, "which is not as simple as you may think. John has already tried to escape but still remained in the same virtual room. His... motivation was wrong."  
  
"Wait, he tried to but failed because he did not have the correct motivation?" D'Argo asked incredulously. "If he tried to escape, doesn't that imply he wanted to leave?"  
  
"Ah, no, Ka D'Argo," Scorpius replied, "John's goal was to get away from my counterpart. Escaping... was merely a means to that end. The virtual room provides him with all the things he has wanted for a long time, namely science, good food, peace, and no distractions and he is therefore not willing to leave it. He must realize he does not want to be in that room if he is to leave it and return to his body. To make things more difficult for us, Scorpius has convinced John that there is nothing worth living for on the 'outside.' John believes that you all have abandoned him to his fate. He does not wish to leave the room to face this awful reality."  
  
"So, how do we persuade him?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"Someone must use my counterpart's neural link to connect to the virtual room and let him know that there are reasons to live for on the outside. This will not be easy. Too many people have invaded his mind. He does not trust reality any more. Therefore, because John knows his room is not real and that things that appear in the room are not real, he will not readily accept your presence as real."  
  
"Frell, is that all there is to it? I know ways to convince Crichton that I'm real. Aeryn certainly knows how to convince him," Chiana swayed back and forth with anxiety, belying the lightness of her words.  
  
Aeryn paused and closed her eyes. Could she convince John that she was real? Could she forgive herself the fact that she couldn't tell the bioloid version from the real version? Could she see this John as her John and love him for himself? And what about the baby? John doesn't know. This thing is so frelled. She would have to go in there and be real for John. "Whatever Scorpius has done to John, we can undo. Let's get on with the plan."  
  
Chiana leaped up on Pilot's console in her excitement at the thought of the snurching to come. "Hey, wouldn't Scorpius keep the neural thing near himself?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," the bioloid half-breed answered, "it should be located in his private chamber, which he rarely leaves. However, there is another option. I am also in the possession of a neural connector, the one I used to overtake Pilot. While it is not intended to link with the computer core, I am certain it can be adapted to that purpose." He looked at Sikozu when he said that last.  
  
"Yes, I can change it," Sikozu confirmed. "Do you know what type of computer link we would need?"  
  
"Unfortunately my dear Sikozu, I do not," Scorpius answered. "At the time I was first activated, Scorpius had not even planned this. I only know what he chose to tell me."  
  
"Then why did he create you?" Chiana asked.  
  
"Preparation and foresight," he replied. "Scorpius uses bioloids in several situations that do not require his direct interference or might be life threatening. He also keeps a bioloid near him to take his place when... security is compromised. Sikozu, are you certain you can do it without the information?"  
  
"I can change it, but not knowing which computer type we are dealing with will result in a very generic link, not suitable for the task it is needed for."  
  
"Fine, then we have to use the one Scorpius has in his private chamber. Any ideas on how we get into the base?" D'Argo inquired.  
  
"The same way we always do these things," John answered, "walk through the front door and shoot anyone that gets in the way."  
  
Aeryn rolled her eyes and turned her gaze towards D'Argo and Chiana, who were still touching each other. "Remind me again why we needed him?" she asked the two. Both D'Argo and Chiana shrugged.  
  
"Hey, it's just the easiest way to get in," John responded. "The problems start when we are inside the Gammak Base, but Scorpy here has the layout of the joint so it shouldn't be difficult to come up with a decent plan. I think we should move to Command so we can start planning."  
  
They all agreed and walked towards Command.

* * *

**Space Station Gammak Base, virtual room**  
  
John continued to sit on the couch after Scorpius beamed out. He let his mind wonder in bordom, waiting for the inevitable mind frell to happen. There still had been no indication as to what Scorpius was hinting at that would persuade him to work on the equations.  
  
"John," a familiar voice came from behind him. John stood up and backed into a corner, eyes resolutely shut. No, this couldn't be real. For one, he was in a computer game and for another, Scorpy had told him she had died.  
  
"Hey old man!" This was not happening. They were both dead. Aeryn and Chiana appeared in front of him their clothing torn and half burned and their skin charred and peeling from the faces and bodies.  
  
"Why didn't you come and rescue us?" the fake Chiana asked him.  
  
"John, I thought you loved me. Why did you let this happen?"   
  
The zombie who looked like Aeryn raised her arm with its bones showing white through the torn and bloody skin and gently touched him on the shoulder leaving a stain of yellow and red where her hand lay on his shirt. "You said you would never leave me. I counted on you," she moaned in her smokey voice.  
  
The other female circled to John's side and pressed her oozing chest against him and rubbed her hips back and forth against his leathers. Each passing motion left a blue mark. The Chiana groaned at the pain in her body, her actions speaking louder than her quiet cries.  
  
"It's not gonna work Scorp," he yelled as the tears threatened to spill. "this isn't real. You're just playing with my mind here. You said they were dead. The dead stay dead. No Night of the Living Dead zombie freakazoid versions of my friends can haunt me. You got the wrong man, here! My name isn't Ash, it's John Crichton." John screamed as he realized what Scorpius intended to do to him.  
  
The two women moved closer to him, pushing him back on to the couch and then sitting next to him, touching him with their dead and corroding bodies and all the while blaming him for their deaths. God, this was worse than a round in the Aurora Chair. Somehow he had to hold on, to stay sane until the Moya posse showed up and saved his ass one more time. He felt his brain melt with the onslaught of the terror and guilt. He hoped he had it in him, because Scorpius sure knew how to play dirty.


	6. Chapter 5: Crime & Punishment

**Moya, Aeryn's quarters**  
  
Aeryn sat at her desk cleaning her weapons, not because they needed cleaning, but because it gave her something to do while letting her thoughts go over the current situation. The bioloid John had come up with a plan to rescue her John. She had already committed the entire plan to memory and knew exactly what she would have to do. As such, her thoughts were not so much focused on the plan, but rather on the subject of the rescue.  
  
Despite assurances from both copies aboard Moya, she was very worried about John's current well being. After all, neither of the two had any insight into the actual state John was in. The fact that Scorpius had informed them John was heavily drugged and would not be able to walk once they disconnected him from the computer was not helping ease her worries.  
  
The worst part was that she would be the one who needed to convince John to leave the virtual room. She had no idea on how to accomplish this but was afraid to talk about it with the copy of John, partly because she felt she should have realized this was not the real one and partly because she should know exactly how to convince her John. She couldn't stop thinking about another niggling question. Why wouldn't John want to leave that fekkik room? What was the real situation on the gammak base and with the computer? It just didn't make sense that John was stuck there because of his own indecision. It just made no sense… He had said he would never leave her. He had said she was his world. There was something not being said…  
  
"Tell him about the baby," John said from the entrance to her quarters as if he had read her mind.  
  
Aeryn startled. Yet again, he had managed to come near her without her realizing it. She looked at him with a questioning look, wondering if it was because she was paying less attention or because he was getting better at sneaking up on her.  
  
"If he hears you're pregnant he'll know you're not some virtual copy he conjured up himself," John explained, interpreting her look as demanding an explanation to his earlier comment. "Besides," he continued with a small shrug, "it'll save you both the problems we were having because of your secrecy."  
  
Aeryn nodded her assent. "You are probably right on both accounts. Will it be enough to convince him to come out of that virtual reality?"  
  
"Are you kiddin'? Of course it's enough reason to come out. He's going to be a father and believe me, he wants to be."  
  
"Even if he did not conceive the child," Aeryn asked, voicing her biggest worries about the pregnancy.  
  
"Aer, I... John loves kids. He doesn't care if it's from his twin or some anonymous Peacekeeper he never met. Hell, he wouldn't care if the kid would have four claws and could multitask or have three stomachs and could fart helium." At her raised eyebrow he conceded, "well, maybe not that. The point is if it is your child, it will be his. He loves you and he will love any child you give life to."  
  
"Then why did you try to avoid me," Aeryn demanded.  
  
"Because you tried to hide it from me," John answered. "You still didn't plan on telling me and that really hurt. My only defense to that was to stay away from you, ignore you. I was coming 'round to talk to you about it."  
  
Aeryn nodded again in thought, while reassembling a pulse rifle. "What makes you think Scorpius hasn't told John about me being pregnant?"  
  
"He doesn't know, because I never told Grasshopper about it."  
  
"But he could have heard us talk about it."  
  
"No he couldn't. His spy toys weren't working until the day after our little talk, we haven't talked about it since and I'm pretty sure nobody else knows. If you want, I can ask him if he did hear it."  
  
"Maybe that would be a good idea," Aeryn replied, moving her cleanup duties to a pulse pistol.  
  
"Yo, Scorp," John said into his comms, "could you come to Aeryn's quarters for a microt?"  
  
"Certainly John, I am on my way," the reply came.  
  
A few microts later Scorpius entered Aeryn's quarters. "How can I be of assistance," he asked.  
  
"Did you tell Scorpius about the pregnancy," John asked.  
  
"I did not know of any pregnancy," Scorpius answered. After a little bit of thinking he turned to Aeryn. "Officer Sun, you are with child?"  
  
"See, his toys were not working until after we talked about it," John said to Aeryn. "He will believe it's really you when you tell him about the pregnancy. More importantly, you'll be the one who tells him, not Granny, Pip, or D, but you."  
  
Aeryn just nodded. She was relieved John would not know about the child and that his copy was certain it would be the thing that would make him believe she was real.  
  
"There is one other thing that may cause him to doubt you are real," Scorpius said. "My counterpart may have told John that the Nebari girl and you have perished in the Starburst Chamber."  
  
"Then, would it not be wise to have D'Argo or Rygel try to convince John to leave the virtual room?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"No," John answered, "you are the one who'll be able to convince him. You're the one he loves, his guiding star. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy to do, but you're definitely the one that has the best chance of doing so."  
  
Aeryn sighed, knowing that he was probably right. She clicked the chakan oil cartridge in place in the pulse pistol. "Alright, I need some time to think about what to say to him."  
  
"Sure, we'll get out of your hair," John said as he turned around to leave her quarters. This caused him to miss the frown on Aeryn's face, followed by a slight shake of her head and a dismissive shrug. John just motioned Scorpius to leave and followed him out of her quarters, closing the door behind him.  
  
Aeryn lay back on the bed and focused her mind on things to do or say that would convince John to leave. One thing was certain in her mind: she would not leave without him.  
  
**Sikozu's quarters**  
  
Sikozu sat on her bed feeling slightly despondent. Her initial plan had been to go to the real Scorpius as soon as she arrived on the Space Station so she could inform him of the plan to rescue the human. Unfortunately, the copy of that deficient human had come up with a plan that would not allow her to do that in a satisfactory way. She sighed as she remembered the discussion.  
  
_"I think we all agree we'll have a better chance with Scorpy off the base. He's the only one who can see the difference between me and the real John."_  
  
At that point Sikozu had almost interrupted him. She realized that such an interruption might make them all suspicious of her so she remained silent and followed the rest of the discussion hoping she would be able to turn things to her favor without raising any suspicions.  
  
_"How do you propose we lure him away?" D'Argo asked.  
  
"I've been thinking," John said, "Grasshopper, Scorpy doesn't want the Peacekeepers to know he uses bioloids regularly, right?"  
  
"That is correct John. If Peacekeeper High Command learns of this fact, they would no longer trust him. Up to now, no one has ever known this, not even Braca."  
  
"Right, so if you contact him and tell him you were kicked off the boat, he would come and pick you up himself."  
  
"Indeed he would. But he would certainly check where my signal is coming from, as he has done during previous contacts."  
  
"So? We'll just drop you off at a planet before you contact him."_  
  
Sikozu saw this as her opportunity to get to the real Scorpius and inform him of the rescue plan without the crew knowing it. She would only need to remain with the bioloid and everything would be fine. She knew exactly how to assure she would be able to accompany him.  
  
_"He should not go alone. During my last link I detected a severe problem which may cause him to deactivate soon, perhaps even before he makes contact. I should go with him. Should he shut down I can reactivate him again."  
  
Scorpius looked at her. "She has a point. My counterpart is also aware of her... regular visits to me and he would believe you have expelled her with me because of her... interest in me."_  
  
Luckily the human had agreed, albeit reluctantly because he needed to revise his plan again. She was relieved she would get a chance to get close to the real Scarran half-breed but was worried about it as well. For reasons she could not fathom, Scorpius needed the human, but by luring the Scarran-Sebacean hybrid away from the Space Station, she would jeopardize Scopius' containment of Crichton.  
  
If she wanted to inform Scorpius she would have to use the bioloid, reprogram him again so he could contact his real counterpart to warn him. The bioloid would be the only one capable of using the specialized communication device to send the message. After the contact she could travel to the Space Station with the bioloid Scorpius.  
  
It was unfortunate she would need to wait until after the bioloid lured his counterpart away from the Space Station. The bioloid had given his back-up communicator to the human so they would know when Scorpius was prepared to leave. If the crew did not hear the communication they would realize that the bioloid had betrayed them and Sikozu knew the crew of Moya well enough to realize they were dangerous should their plans be revealed. The fahrbot crew was really good at changing tactics on the fly, since their plans almost always went south. She was confident, however, that she could out think them and warn Scorpius in time to thwart the rescue.  
  
She sighed again as she gathered her few possessions and headed toward the docking bay. They would leave for the planet soon. Timing was everything. If she failed to warn the real Scorpius in time, she was certain he would want nothing to do with her and most likely Moya's crew wouldn't want her around either, regardless of the outcome.  
  
**Moya, Corridor**  
  
"Listen, D," John said as they walked towards the docking bay, "I know you feel a little guilty about making me take one for the team back on Arnesk, but it's okay, you know. It had to be done, we needed a diversion and there was simply no other way. Besides, it didn't happen to the real me so there's no need to keep beating yourself up about it."  
  
"Cri-John," the tall Luxan responded, accepting the bioloid version totally as the same friend, "I appreciate you are not blaming me, but I had no right to ask this of you. We should have thought about another way."  
  
"Like I said, D, it didn't happen to the real me, so once I'm gone and he's here you can stop worrying about it. But I think it would be wise not tell Aeryn about it. Even though it was me that tralk abused, I'm pretty sure Aeryn would confront Grayza. And while I couldn't care less what happens to that bitch, I think Aeryn should not deal with it. Besides it might make her feel even guiltier about leaving me...him...us behind."  
  
"I promise you I will not tell Aeryn. I also promise to deal with that tralk if I ever see her again."  
  
"Thanks D, appreciate it." John slapped his tall friend's shoulder.  
  
They entered the docking bay to see Scorpius and Sikozu ready to board the transport pod.  
  
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," John said jovially. "Once you've landed on the planet we chose earlier, you get Scorpy on the horn and tell him we gave you the boot."  
  
"Yes John, I remember the plan," Scorpius responded, correctly interpreting the strange human phrase to mean 'forced off Moya'.  
  
"Right, well if all goes according to plan," John continued as he pointedly ignored the resulting snorts, "you should reach the planet in about an arn. You two lovebirds have fun!"  
  
Neither Scorpius nor Sikozu responded to his remark as they climbed the stairs to board the pod. The sooner they were on it, the sooner they could leave the ever-chattering human with his strange sayings behind.  
  
As soon as the transport pod had left the docking bay, the crew began preparations to board Lo'La and head for the Space Station. In less than a quarter of an arn they too left Moya behind as she moved to a safe location almost two systems away from the Space Station.  
  
"Why did we have to bring Wrinkles?" Chiana asked John, who sat up front in the copilot seat.  
  
John turned around to look at Chiana, who had chosen a spot directly behind D'Argo. "Pip, Granny has some powders than can be very useful. Besides, would you really have felt better if we left her alone aboard Moya?"  
  
"No, but we could have sent her along with fek-face," Chiana responded. "Let her stink up that place." She turned her head to look at Noranti sitting behind her. "And why do you not bathe?" she asked.  
  
"No bathing, have to preserve the juices," Noranti replied.  
  
"I do not understand why you brought me along," Rygel said from the back. "You could have left me aboard Moya, I can be trusted."  
  
"Yeah, trusted to snurch our stuff," Chiana said.  
  
"If there is anyone snurching, it would be you," Rygel responded.  
  
"Kids, just shut up, alright," John said.  
  
"John," D'Argo said to his friend while reaching out to pat his shoulder, "what did you say then? It is fun to travel with children?"  
  
"Yeah, but this time we're preparing to fight."  
  
"This is not unusual," Aeryn said from behind John, "Peacekeepers always tease each other while on route to a mission. It helps reducing stress levels and forges a bond between team members so they will trust each other."  
  
"Fine, just don't bother me with it. I need the quiet," John said.  
  
After a half arn they came up to the Space Station.  
  
"Damn, it's big," John muttered under his breath. "Alright kids, we're here. We'll have to wait about a quarter arn before Xerox Scorpy contacts the original version. As soon as Grasshopper leaves the station, we dock and enter as planned." From behind him he could hear Aeryn checking the oil cartridges of her pistols and rifle and he figured it would be good idea to check on the girl strapped to his thigh. Full Chakan oil cartridge in place and two reserve cartridges stuffed in the pockets of his coat.  
  
**Moya, Corridor**  
  
"Come on guys, time to get me out of this hell," John muttered, trying valiantly to ignore the two zombies talking to and touching him although their vile smells and sloshing sounds as they moved just grossed him out. The two had not left him alone at all during the last couple of arns and he was getting tired.  
  
The corroded hand of the Aeryn ghost slide itself along John's ribcage underneath his thin t-shirt. He shuddered with the touch of her cold clammy hand. "'Woah, d-don't go there…back off!" he yelled and gave her a shove away from his rigid body where he sat on the couch. Zombie-Chiana took the opportunity to slither around his back and reach her skeletal arms with their rotting flesh around his neck. He ducked underneath her and jumped off the couch. "Scorpy!" he screamed into the air, "This isn't gonna jive with me. No matter how you direct it, the girls aren't real. I gotta give you this much, you've added great smell-o-rama and senso-sound but it still don't play 'cause you don't understand the language. On my world the dead stay dead except in cheap B-grade horror movies. I might be dumb but I don't have the chin. Give it up."  
  
John stood with his back to a wall as far away from the apparitions as possible. They continued to make little whimpering sounds and cries and their skin and body parts continued to peel and crack and the smells of death and corruption were appalling. He closed his eyes and forcibly turned his mind away from thoughts of the girls. He had told himself he would not work on the wormhole equations, no matter what. He wondered how the guys would get him out of this twisted Myst. What would be their plan? Gotta be pretty frelled up to rescue him from this mess.  
  
His mind had pondered earlier about the deaths of Aeryn and Chiana. He had the feeling the accident Scorpius had mentioned might not have been an accident. John was pretty sure the fake Scorpius had something to do with it. He hoped Aeryn had figured his own doppelganger out, put two and two together and figure out Scorpius was acting odd to. If that would be the case and she reacted quickly when whatever had happened had happened, she may have been in hiding with Chiana, faking their deaths and awaiting a good moment to deal with the fakes.  
  
He leaned against the wall and thought about the rescue plan they had to come up with, once Aeryn and Pip had found a way to deal with the two Xeroxes. If the guys come for him, they should take a convoluted route to fool Scorpy and the PKs. Yet, if either Aeryn or D'Argo come up with the plan, it'll be based on a simple straight-forward frontal assault 'cause they always worked that way. Maybe he shouldn't be assuming that they would come for him at all given that his replacement doppelganger is there on Moya still surely keeping up appearances and the two women dead. He sighed and shoved that fear aside. So, they will come for him. What would they need? They need to find out where he is. Even finding his location in space wouldn't really help, unless they knew about this computer game and how to get him out.  
  
The more he thought about it, the more John was convinced that Scorpius was holding out on his fellow Peacekeepers. He was certain that ole Scorpy didn't want the Peacekeepers to know about his look-a-like. So, if D'Argo, Rygel, or anyone else on Moya were smart and had found out about copies, he hoped that they would use that information to turn the tables on Mr. Scarren Half-Breed and thus empty the base of soldiers to make it easier to perform the rescue. The best way to do that would be to dump one or both clones on a planet and force Xerox-Grasshopper to contact Mr. Real-Live Nosferatu on this base, thereby luring the original Scorp off the base. Then with Scorpy away, the mice could play. In his gang could come like a bat outa hell, yank out all the connections to his body and presto, freedom.  
  
John knew any rescue depended on the crew discovering the body switching as well as his current predicament. Still, he figured it was better to hope than to dispair. So he kept the hope that his friends would come to rescue his ass once again.  
  
"John, why will you not work on the equations," Scorpius asked. John jumped at the sound and kicked himself for his inattention. He had missed Scorpy's David Copperfield act because of his daydreaming.  
  
"I see no reason to," John said. "Only bad things can happen when I give you wormhole tech, so I've decided to not give you any scrap of data anymore."  
  
"John, as long as you refuse to work on those equations, the apparitions of your friends will continue to trouble you. I know you do not like the smells, sounds, and thoughts of their gruesome deaths. Consider their unfortunate end on your conscience."  
  
John glanced over to the couch where the two ghouls had been painting each other's boney nails and dripping pus on the frayed material. He suddenly realized that his two haunted-house guests were now sitting motionless. "There's a pause button?" he asked Scorpius pointing in the direction of the couch.  
  
"John, I have full control over these surroundings. These two are only a small example. I can enhance their reality and add much, much more to the scenario. Things will not remain as easy for you if you do not start working on these equations soon."  
  
"Take your best shot," John said, but Scorpius had already disappeared again and the two zombies once again make their sexual wishes known with their unwanted touching and pawing at him. "What the frell is keeping you guys?"  
  
**Transport pod, one system away**  
  
The bioloid of Scorpius piloted the transport pod and adjusted his course to head to the chosen system. They needed less than a quarter arn to reach their destination and after the latest course change he had not much to do besides keep an eye out for possible trouble.  
  
Beside him Sikozu sat quietly, staring straight ahead. They had been talking for a while but just before the course change her demeanor changed. Scorpius assumed she was getting nervous about the upcoming rendezvous with the real Scorpius and decided to say nothing and give her some time to deal with things on her own.  
  
Sikozu however was dealing with a totally different problem. Despite the great technological advancements in her type of bioloid which should have prevented anybody from tampering with her programming, some sort of foreign programming had penetrated her core processing unit. It took a large amount of processing power to take care of the problem before it would get out of hand, which resulted in her quiet behavior.  
  
She concentrated on tracing the path of the errant bits of code as they invaded more and more of her addresses and neural pathways. As she scoped out the damage she realized that this invasion had commenced with the first time she linked with Scorpius. That's when part of his programming tried to break in to her programming. The bioloid had implanted a worm in her systems. Although the overt attack had been partly successful that time, its true mission was to commence a more covert hacking that initialized itself on her second connection. Both the Scorpius virus attacks were eventually thwarted by her security protocols but it now looked as if the whole ordeal opened up a way for something else to penetrate her defenses.  
  
That was her current problem, dealing with whatever had penetrated her defenses during the virus battle. Sikozu couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. She had reinitiated her security protocols as soon as she had become aware of the problem which should have been enough to deal with the problem right away. Unfortunately, the unknown worm was able to elude all the detection efforts by her stepped up security. Sikozu dug further down using all her available processing capabilities and finally tagged the bug.  
  
Suddenly, she found herself in a virtual room. It looked very much like the room she where she was first activated. Slowly fear began to assert itself as she started to realize she was no longer in control of herself.  
  
"So, you wanna warn Grasshopper about the rescue, do ya?" the human's voice echoed from behind her. "I don't think that would be wise."  
  
Sikozu turned around and eyed the human suspiciously. "Are you the programming that penetrated my systems?" she asked him.  
  
"Sure am," John replied with a smirk. "Wasn't easy either. I got in alright but couldn't do much at all. I did have the time and ability to nose through your memory banks. Interesting things I found there, like where you were activated," he stated while gesturing towards their environment, "and that you're part of the Kalish resistance."  
  
"You have no right to go through my memories," Sikozu said indignantly.  
  
"What else was I s'posed to do? Don't worry I won't tell anyone about your darkest secrets."  
  
"Why are you here?" Sikozu asked.  
  
"Got nowhere else to go," John replied with a small shrug. "I'd almost think you don't want me here."  
  
"I do not want you here. Go away."  
  
"As I said, I got nowhere to go. Now, relax a bit. Scorpy is about to land and I'm sure he needs to know you're fine. We'll talk later."  
  
_Space Station Gammak Base, Scorpius' private chamber_  
  
Scorpius was intrigued and irritated by the stubbornness of the human who was still refusing to work on the equations in spite of Scorpius' recent threats to up the punishment levels. He pondered the image of Crichton; watching him pace back and forth across the room trailed by the two dead versions of his crewmates. John had been on his feet and plagued by the ghastly smells, sounds, and touches for over eight arns and although he was stumbling with fatigue and most likely hunger still he refused to cooperate.  
  
Why was the human so in transitory? Didn't he understand the strategic value provided by the capability of harnessing the power of wormholes? With the wormhole tech the Peacekeepers would be able to defeat the Scarrans once and for all with very little loss of Sebecean life. Surely the human did not want the Scarrans to take over the Uncharted Territories and known Peacekeeper space? If that should happen, John Crichton must be aware that he and his friends would be killed sooner or later.  
  
The Sebacean-Scarran hybrid was getting very frustrated by the human's lack of assistance. He contemplated the steps to make life more difficult for John, difficult enough to force him to continue his work on the equations. Scorpius switched cameras to the one in the computer room and quietly watched the status of the real Crichton. The human's face held a grimace and his muscles in his jaw twiched despite the muscle-relaxing drug, thus giving testament to the torment his mind was going through. Scorpius was well aware of the fragile nature of the human body (having had John Crichton in custody before). Working with this man had to be a delicate balancing act. So, for now, the current assault on the human would have to serve. Switching the view back to the virtual room, Scorpius said, "You are doing this to yourself, John. You know how to stop this torment, you are just being stubborn."  
  
**Transport pod, approaching Tirnu**  
  
Sikozu noticed the room had disappeared and found herself back sitting in the transport pod looking out the forward portal. A mere microt later she couldn't remember what had happened during the past quarter arn.  
  
"My dear Sikozu," Scorpius said from beside her, "I am about to land. Is everything alright?"  
  
"Uhm, yes, I just can not remember the last quarter arn," she replied.  
  
"Yes, I noticed you were deep in thought. I assumed you were a little nervous about the situation and so left you with your thoughts." Scorpius looked at her with a little concern as he noticed her frown. "You do not remember anything from the past quarter arn?"  
  
"No, nothing," Sikozu replied. "My internal logs do show a huge amount of processing power was used for security protocols, which may explain why I do not remember much. Still, the lost time should have been recorded in my memory banks as well." She was no longer trying to hide her bioloid origins and it felt very good to be able to be that frank, very liberating.  
  
"Your security protocols? Is there something wrong with your programming?"  
  
"There appears to be small irregularities in my programming but the infected locations, although not important, were difficult to clean, which explains why so much processing power was needed. Everything is clean now."  
  
At that moment Scorpius landed the transport pod and shutdown the engines and the navigational systems.  
  
"We are precisely on time," Scorpius said with some satisfaction. "John," Scorpius said into one of Moya's comms, "Sikozu and I have arrived at our destination. Have you arrived at your destination?"  
  
"Yeah, Grasshopper," John replied over the comms. "You can reach out and touch someone."  
  
Both Sikozu and Scorpius shook their heads. Sometimes the human could really be incomprehensible.  
  
Scorpius grabbed the special comms that connected him with his counterpart and stepped out of the pod, followed by Sikozu. "Scorpius," he said into the device when he had put some distance between the pod and himself, "I have some news to report."  
  
"What now," the snarled reply came from the device. It appeared the real Scorpius was not very happy.  
  
"The crew has forced me to leave Moya. I am currently on the planet Tirnu. I do not want to risk flying the pod in your direction because the crew might be tracking it."  
  
Over the comms they could hear Scorpius hit some surface with quite some force. "That is only two systems away! Are they aware of the situation with the human?"  
  
"I do not think they know. After the crew put me and Sikozu in the transport pod and forced me to leave, they seemed to have gone away from your position. The human bioloid still has enough of the wormhole equations to proceed with the test and I believe they will do that."  
  
It was quiet for a few moments before Scorpius replied again, this time using his carefully cultured voice again. "The Kalish girl is there as well?"  
  
"Yes, the crew felt she had come to my defense too often. She was also unhappy with the crew and would rather be with you."  
  
"I will ask Braca to guard the human..."  
  
**Aboard Lo'La near the Space Station**  
  
"...and upgrade security for the base. I will come to pick you up and expect to arrive about a quarter arn after that. I will contact you as soon as I leave the base." The crew heard the comms click off.  
  
"Step one going according to plan," John said. "Damn, Grasshopper really wasn't happy."  
  
"John is probably being obstinate again. That usually makes us unhappy as well," Aeryn replied from behind him. Though she said it with a smile, it did heighten her worries about him. She quickly squelched the fear that was rising and temporarily erected the Peacekeeper barriers to bar all emotions. They would only hamper her during the first part of the rescue.  
  
"You're probably right. Well, you all heard Scorpy: the security will be beefed up but I doubt they'll have security where we'll board the Space Station."  
  
The crew nodded and D'Argo remembered the discussion about how to enter.  
  
_"Scorp, you said this Space Station was expanded a few cycles back, right?" At his confirming nod, John continued. "Doesn't that mean there's an old docking bay as well? One that's no longer used?"  
  
"Yes John, there is an old airlock, but it is not usable."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It is placed on what was formerly the station's outer hull but that area is now surrounded with the added sections of the station. The airlock is still there but since it is unreachable from the outside by any vessel, it has been closed."  
  
"But it can be opened from the outside and there's probably no security there at all, right?"  
  
"You are correct on both accounts, John. However, if we can not reach it, it is of no use to us."  
  
John rubbed this thumb over his lower lip for a little while. "D, you can control your ship through voice commands, right?"  
  
"Yes, but I do not see how that is going to help us."  
  
"How many EV-suits do we have?" John asked in general, for the time being ignoring any questions.  
  
"Three as far as I know," Aeryn replied.  
  
"Alright, D, you can survive in space for what, a quarter arn?" At his nod he continued, "Do we have a spare oxygen tank?"  
  
"We have two additional tanks," Aeryn answered. It was good thing she had made it her business to be up to date on anything that could be used if they were under attack.  
  
"Great. I noticed we have a container the size of D'Argo in the maintenance bay. That thing is airtight, right?" At Aeryn's confirming nod he continued, "So, we stuff Granny and Spanky in there, providing them with oxygen; Aeryn, Pip, and I get into the EV-suits; and the three of us and D guide the container with the old bat and the old slug to the airlock and we enter there. No shooting and no-one will know we're there."_  
  
D'Argo shook his head slightly. It became clear to him that this duplicate of his friend was indeed a perfect copy. He had come up with a fahrbot plan that would probably fail at some point, but not enough to get them all killed and work out in the end. He watched as the old woman and Rygel got into the airtight container while Aeryn, Chiana, and John put on their EV-suits.  
  
While Aeryn and John focused on sealing the container, Chiana walked up to stand next to her lover. "It'll be alright, D'Argo," she said as she stroked one side of his face with her hand. "We'll be doing this together and we'll look out for each other."  
  
D'Argo looked at her with all the love he felt for her. "We will," he said. He was about to say more but was interrupted by the comms.  
  
"This is Scorpius. I am on my way to you now. I will arrive in a quarter arn."  
  
"Show time," John said and sealed his helmet. Aeryn and Chiana did the same and D'Argo fastened his breathing mask. When they were all ready, D'Argo motioned them to get into the airlock and cycled it. They slowly drifted over to the Space Station, towing the container with the Hynerian and the Traskan with them.  
  
**Surface of Tirnu**  
  
Tirnu was definitely not habitable. Although it had an atmosphere that would allow most species to live there, it had virtually no water or vegetation. Luckily, it wasn't too hot so Scorpius would not have to worry about using up his cooling rods too fast.  
  
Sikozu used her link to deactivate Scorpius and quickly started the coding sequence to resurrect his original programming. She was almost finished with the final pathways, when she found herself transported to the secret meeting place of the Kalish resistance.  
  
"So this is where you meet your fellow resistance fighters. The furnishing certainly screams Ikea."  
  
The vision of John stood in front of her staring at the dusty floor and torn up walls of the decrepit room with its broken chairs. Just as she turned to answer his snarky statement, she paused as the entire previous encounter came back to her memory in a flash. "How dare you dress in Kalish clothes!"  
  
"You didn't expect me to come here stark naked, did ya?" John countered. "I figure these clothes are more appropriate for these surroundings than my usual clothing."  
  
"Just leave me alone," Sikozu said with annoyance.  
  
"Don't think so," John countered, "I'm here to prevent you from making the biggest mistake of your life."  
  
"What mistake?"  
  
"Hooking up with Grasshopper," John said matter-of-factly. "Worst thing you could possibly do, unless you want to die and undo all the good things the Kalish resistance has accomplished so far."  
  
"I do not think Scorpius would harm me or the resistance; he hates the Scarrans even more than the Kalish do."  
  
"True, but he'd do anything to accomplish the destruction of his father's race, even kill you if necessary. But don't take my word for it, just ask Scorpy himself."  
  
"Ask him? How?"  
  
"Simple. While we were talking I took the liberty of getting Scorpy's personality in here too via some fancy programming over our previous link. Oh, Scorpy, come out, come out, wherever you are," John said, making a show of scanning the surroundings.  
  
'_Even his programming is annoying and deficient,_' Sikozu thought.  
  
"Hey, I'm right here you know; it's not very nice to think bad things about me when I know what you're thinking," John said. A smile crept into his face as he saw she realized the full extend of his connection to her.  
  
"John, where are we?" Scorpius asked. Sikozu jumped in spite of herself when the black-clad apparition seemed to pop out of nowhere.  
  
"Secret Kalish resistance meeting place," John answered. "But more accurately, we are inside Sikozu's central processing unit and the surroundings are just generated from her memory. Not unlike what Harvey usually does to the real me."  
  
"Harvey?" both Sikozu and Scorpius asked. Then Scorpius realized what he must mean. "You are referring to the neural bleed-back from the chip Scorpius once put in your brain."  
  
"Yep, Harv always liked to root around in my memory and give unwanted advice in the weirdest places he pulled out of my memory. You should name me too; John seems inappropriate since I'm not really him. Harvey is obviously taken; Clarence maybe? Hmm, no I don't like that name for myself. Hmm, lemme think..."  
  
"Crichton!" Sikozu yelled, getting incredibly annoyed by this human virus.  
  
"No, like I said, my own name wouldn't be appropriate; pay attention will ya?"  
  
"John, why are we here," Scorpius asked.  
  
"Hmm, what?" John replied distractedly, "oh, right, the reason we're here. We're gonna give Sputnik some insight into Scorpy's psyche. She doesn't believe me about Habius-Scorpius' real goals and total dedication to achieving them, but I'm sure she'll believe you."  
  
At that John walked away and left the two alone to talk.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, old airlock**  
  
The crew had safely entered the Space Station through the abandoned airlock and docking area. As predicted, there was no sign of any security.  
  
"Alright, Pip and D, you get to Scorpy's place and grab that thingy. Granny will go with you. Aeryn and I will clear a path to the chamber where John is linked to the computer game. Guido here will follow us to secure our exit."  
  
They each gave a small nod acknowledging the plan. It would take less than half an arn for Scorpius to return and they needed to be ready for the plan's next stage by then.  
  
D'Argo, Chiana and Noranti had a fairly easy part. The route to Scorpius' private chambers was short distance from their current location. They did not encounter anyone during their rapid travel to their destination. Just as D'Argo began to remove the grating from a maintenance duct near the entrance, the door to Scorpius' room opened. D'Argo quickly ducked around the corner. He could not believe their luck: Braca left the chamber, seemingly leaving it unprotected and unlocked. This would make Chiana's part much easier and less dangerous.  
  
As soon as Braca disappeared around the corner, the Luxan removed the grating and motioned Chiana to approach. As he helped her inside he said, "Braca has left the room and I do not think he placed security there. This will make it easier, but you will need to hurry; he could come back any microt."  
  
Chiana smiled to him. "D'Argo, I'm always quick when it comes to snurching. Don't worry, nobody'll catch me." She gave him a peck on the cheek and made her way through the maintenance duct towards Scorpius' room.  
  
D'Argo quickly replaced the grating to avoid detection. As he turned around he saw a Peacekeeper standing there, aiming a pulse pistol at him. 


	7. Chapter 6: Empty Room

**Space Station Gammak Base, Corridor**  
  
D'Argo eyed the Peacekeeper and weighed his options. Unfortunately the Peacekeeper was out of the range of his tongue so the only options available to him would be to move closer so he could use his tongue or take out his Qualta Blade. Neither option was good since the Peacekeeper would not hesitate to shoot him if he moved, but then again, he probably would do so anyway. He decided that both moving closer and taking out his blade would at least keep the man guessing. Before D'Argo could do anything, the old woman moved from behind the Peacekeeper and blew dust into his face.  
  
"This will make him sleep for an arn," she said. "Perhaps we should hide him somewhere."  
  
D'Argo nodded, both in thanks as well as in confirmation of her suggestion. He strode into the corridor, knelt beside the Peacekeeper, and removed the grating to another maintenance duct. He quickly pushed the Peacekeeper inside and replaced the grating. He then joined the old woman and to hide and keep an eye on the grating Chiana would come back to.  
  
They didn't have to wait long. After a mere two microts, the Nebari girl's white hair and gray features could be spotted at the other side of the grating. D'Argo quickly checked if everything was clear and strode purposefully to the grating.  
  
"Did you get the device?" he asked before removing the grating.  
  
"D'Argo, I'm the snurch master, remember? Of course I got the device," the reply came from the other side of the grating.  
  
D'Argo removed the grating to let the gray girl out and was about to place it back when he heard a thud behind him. As he looked around he noticed a Peacekeeper lying on the floor, with the old woman standing beside him.  
  
"I hope I brought enough of this powder," Noranti said.  
  
D'Argo just shook his head, pushed the Peacekeeper into the duct that a moment before had been occupied by Chiana, and replaced the grating.  
  
"We better get this to Aeryn quickly," Chiana said, holding the device up.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, computer room**  
  
John, Aeryn and Rygel had arrived at the computer room without much resistance. They had encountered only two guards in the corridor outside the room where the real Human was lying connected to the computer. Both guards where easily incapacitated by two perfectly executed Pantak Jabs and stored in a nearby empty room.  
  
As they entered the room, staying close to the wall to avoid being seen by the surveillance camera that was directed at the slab of metal John was lying on, Aeryn almost ran straight to him. His sweaty bare body was covered with electrodes and various tubes where connected to him, both for nutrition as well as other bodily functions. His face sported an agonized expression, anguish Aeryn shared down to her bones. How the hezmana could they disconnect him from all that dren without hurting him further? John's body trembled with every pulse of the fekkik tubing. His hands were bloody from where his nails bit into his palms where he had squeezed them in obvious response to pain. It seemed to be the only physical capability the comatose man had available to him to alleviate the constant assaults on his mind and body. Aeryn shivered and turned away from the slab.  
  
Rygel took one look at the human where he lay prone like a filobisk ready for slaughter on that cold frelling slab and with ear brows lowered silently steered his throne sled up to the grating of the ventilation shaft, directly above the entrance. He removed the grating and dropped it into the hands of the alternate John who was waiting below him. He then proceeded to tie the rope and let it dangle down to the floor. The rope would be used by the girls to climb up and later to hoist the prone human up. After confirming with John that everything was in order, he took one more look at the human lying in the middle of the room and with a long sigh, proceeded into the ventilation shaft to the grating they would use to get out of the shaft again.  
  
John placed the grating he still held in his hand in the corner of the room and walked cautiously to Aeryn whose eyes were getting moist. "He'll be out of here in no time, Aeryn," he said quietly. She just nodded without removing her gaze from the trembling and sweating body in the middle of the room. "We only have to wait for Pip, D, Granny, and the device and then you can go talk him out of his torture."  
  
**Surface of Tirnu**  
  
Sikozu regained control of herself once again and found that the Scorpius bioloid had been reactivated. He was looking at her, waiting until she became completely aware of her current surroundings.  
  
"Sikozu, I hope you have learned from our talk and the talk you had with the John inside you. Do not try to warn Scorpius, it would be an error."  
  
Before Sikozu could give a response, they heard the engines of the Marauder as it triangulated on the pad and began to lower its landing gear. Scorpius stood at the top of the stairs as they were lowered to the ground signaling that they should approach the ship. His bioloid version grabbed her hand and gently pulled her forward towards the Scarran half-breed.  
  
As they entered the Marauder, Sikozu heard Scorpius say to his bioloid copy, "she's a bioloid?"  
  
"Yes I am," she replied.  
  
"You must be part of the Kalish resistance, then," Scorpius concluded. "You can come with me; you may be able to provide me with vital information about the Scarrans."  
  
Sikozu was about to inform him of the active rescue occurring at that moment on his Space Station, but found she was unable to say anything.  
  
'_I thought we agreed not to tell him,_' John's voice sounded in her mind.  
  
"We have agreed on nothing," she muttered quietly. "I have to tell him." But again she found she could say nothing of the sort out loud.  
  
'_I won't let you tell him. Trust me. It's for your own good._'  
  
Sikozu gave up for the moment. She would try again a little later.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, computer room**  
  
D'Argo, Noranti, and Chiana entered the room quickly but carefully, making sure to stay out of the line of vision of the surveillance camera.  
  
"Frell," Chiana exclaimed as she noticed the human lying there in the middle of the room while handing the neural interface to Aeryn.  
  
D'Argo too felt rage growing inside him when he took in John's condition.  
  
"Pip, Granny, you need to get up there," John said as he pointed to the opened ventilation shaft and the rope dangling from it. "Guido is opening the other end now." He looked at Aeryn. "It's up to you now to get him back in this reality. Remember what we talked about."  
  
Aeryn nodded and plugged the neural interface into the socket and put it on her head. With a grimace, she was instantly transferred to the virtual room.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, virtual room**  
  
Aeryn turned and was immediately apprised why the real John's face had held such an anguished expression. She frowned as she watched a corroding copy of herself and Chiana hanging around and touching him, talking to him. The smells and sounds were appalling.  
  
Aeryn momentarily closed her eyes, before she yelled, "get the frell away from him!" To her astonishment the two women actually disappeared into thin air. Without much thought she moved to John who was sitting on a couch shivering and weaving back and forth with evident exhaustion.  
  
John turned reddened eyes her direction and rasped at her, "Go away, it's not going to work.". Just as she was about to sit next to him, he stood up and backing himself against the nearest wall started yelling. "It's not going to work Scorp! Whether you send those two zombies or the Aeryn I remember, I will not work on those frelling wormhole equations!"  
  
Watching her lover standing stiffly with his back against the wall and his arms equally stiffly indicating that she should keep away, Aeryn hesitantly sat down on the couch. She swallowed and looked down at her hands to collect her thoughts before speaking. She stated quietly, "John, it is really me. Chiana and I were not killed." She hoped that would calm him down, but apparently it did not work that way with John.  
  
"Oh, come on, Grasshopper. Make up your mind, will ya? First they're dead, now they're not? So I guess in a few arns they'll be dead again?" He didn't even look at her during his rant to Scorpius.  
  
"John, listen to me., We did not die during the accident in the Starburst Chamber. For one thing, it was not an accident at all but something the fake Scorpius did; and for a second thing, Chiana and I hid ourselves from the entire crew to allow Scorpius to think we were dead. You see I already knew the whole frelling story because a few arns before a DRD relayed the true identity of both fakes and the entire miserable debacle. The problem was that your 1812 DRD chose the Starburst Chamber for our secret rendezvous and the fake you had caught me there. Luckily, this time I had good timing because the fake John's programming was about to revert to his daytime personality, the one that ha no idea he was fake and I was able to contact Chiana. Together, we planned on acting to turn off both fakes, but Scorpius acted first and had Pilot tell Moya to initiate Starburst. We got out just in time but decided to hide and convince the crew, including the fakes, that we were dead. This sounds stupid even in comparison to your plans, but that's what happened. So, we waited and the fakes contacted Scorpy wjth the news of our death. I'm truly sorry that you had to deal with this dren, John. Life is not fair.."  
  
John looked at her for a moment. "Come on, Scorp, that's something I had thought about and hoped to be true earlier. How stupid do you think I am? Nice touch with the details about the DRD and the double personality, but I'm not buying it."  
  
Aeryn sighed. Frell, this was not going well at all. She was aware that the real Scorpius would be on his way back by now, so she had to get him to believe quickly. Okay, John always thought that I was, in his words, the poster-child for frontal assaults, I'll just jump right in with the big news, she thought. "John, I am pregnant."  
  
That did get his attention. "Pregnant?" He had a dumbfounded look on his face and started to sit down again slowly. "You gonna have a baby? When? How can this be? I, um, I-I don't know what to say."  
  
"Not right away, John. Remember, I'm not human. Peacekeepers are not like you. Military campaigns can last for many cycles. Imagine if even a portion of a female unit fell pregnant. Those of us born on a Command Carrier can retain an embryonic fetus for up to seven cycles. It takes a surgeon to release the stasis. I..." Aeryn looked down at the floor before she had the courage to look him in the eye again and continue, "I could also be pregnant for more than four cycles."  
  
"That's just great, Aeryn. So, you're not sure who the daddy is. So why tell me now? You know, there was a point in our non-relationship where I would have jumped for joy to share a child with you. Anybody's child. But you made it really clear that I wasn't your guy, I-I wasn't that guy, the one on Talyn. Aeryn, I don't know what to think at the moment. So, congratulations. Whenever you have this baby or whatever it is at the moment, I hope you and the father are very happy together. I have more problems at the moment than I can deal with. I don't need more dren. You see, Scorpy up there has me trapped in this place and wants me to do his homework for him, but you see, I hate bullies. I have hated them since Billy Traskow in third grade forced me to do his math homework for him for weeks until I got the nerve to tell him where to stick it. He broke my nose with his math book. So, I've decided not to cooperate with Grasshopper and he's sent Casper and Wendy to haunt me ever since. I'm tired and I don't want to hear about alien pregnancies. Okay, so go away."  
  
John leaned back on the couch and resolutely crossed his arms behind his head and looked away from the flabbergasted woman.  
  
Aeryn looked at the floor again and shook her head. For love of Cholak the human was stubborn. She struggled with what to say that would invite his attention to her rescue attempt. This gambit wasn't working well at all. She thought back to how helpless and lost she felt at the death of the John on Talyn. She felt again the painful feelings of abandonment and her anger at John for leaving. She summoned up those memories and held them close. She turned to the man and whispered, "John, I want this baby because it could be ours. Not his, not yours, but ours. I want us to raise this child. I have strong hopes that John Crichton is the father. You are one and the same to me. Please, I've lost you twice now. I need you. I know you feel abandoned and I have felt this feeling of emptiness so heavy that you feel that nothing will fill it ever again. Come out of here with me. I'm here for you now. The baby and I. We can release the stasis and be a family, I am ready. But I need you with me John. I know nothing about children, I need you to support me; I need you back in my life."  
  
John turned and faced her once again and sighed deeply. "Please let the dream be true. Please don't be another trick." He whispered. "Aeryn, gawd, I have have wanted to be with you, needed to be with you. I don't understand totally what made you change your mind, but I'm glad you did. And I want you to know that when you have this baby, I will consider it my own, no matter who the biological father is." John had grabbed her hand and held it while he looked at her. "H-how did you get in here?" he asked, suddenly aware of his current situation.  
  
"Chiana and D'Argo grabbed the neural link Scorpius uses to communicate with you in the game. You have to get out of here. Scorpius is not here right now, but we need to get you away before he returns."  
  
John's face fell once again. "Aeryn, I tried to escape before but it didn't work. I just end up here again."  
  
"Yes, the fake Scorpius explained it to us. You couldn't escape because you did not want to leave the room. You were only interested in getting away from Scorpius. You need to convince yourself you do not want to be here in this room."  
  
"But I don't want to be here."  
  
"Are you sure? This room is a representation of everything you have craved for for a long time; food you like, science, nobody chasing you. You need to convince yourself there are more important things in the real world."  
  
"Aeryn, look around you. Do you really think I want to be here, with the constant threat of Scorpy dropping by and the zombies constantly pestering me? Believe me, I've wished myself away from this place more times than I can count. I can make little changes for things I do not like, but nothing big. I think the fake Grasshopper lied to you."  
  
"No, he could not. Sikozu reprogrammed the bioloid Scorpius to make sure that betrayal to us would result in the equivalent of a failing cooling rod."  
  
"Hold it, hold it. One, who the heck is Sikozu and two, what the heck is a bioloid?" John interrupted her.  
  
This reminded Aeryn that John had missed out on so much of her life on Moya in the past couple of monens. Not wanting to think about that right now she simply replied "Sikozu is a Kalish girl but also a bioloid, more advanced than the Scorpius or John bioloids. A bioloid is a genetically engineered life form with technological parts, basically a computer core instead of a real brain. I am confident that the bioloid Scorpius could not have betrayed us without any pain."  
  
"So, if RoboScorp was not lying, he didn't get all the info from Grasshopper," John concluded. "Either way, we still haven't got a way to get me out of here."  
  
He started moving his thumb over his lower lip, something Aeryn recognized as an indication that his brain was working on possible escape routes. After a microt or two of observing her human, she decided he may need some input from her. "John, what happened the last time you tried to escape?"  
  
"I stepped out of the door and instead of ending up in the corridor I had seen I ended back in my refresher chamber," pointing out both the door and the refresher.  
  
"But you were able to open the door and see the corridor?"  
  
"Yes, but Scorpy had planted the switch that disengaged the paralyzing device linked to the door. After my escape attempt he removed it again from the data terminal. I knew even then it was just too easy and that he probably had arranged it for me."  
  
"And you are certain there is actually a paralyzing device on the door?"  
  
"Yeah, I tried it once and couldn't move a muscle for almost an arn. In the beginning, before I knew this wasn't real, Scorpius always entered and exited through the door, but later he just appeared and disappeared without knocking. A little while ago he told me he had full control." A short pause later he realized what he had just said and what that indicated. Apparently Aeryn was still completely attuned to him, proven by the fact they both talked at the same time.  
  
"The neural interface."  
  
"The neural thingy."  
  
John couldn't help the grin on his face and even Aeryn smiled a bit.  
  
"Right, that means you're in control of this game or possibly you can't be affected by whatever is making sure I can't leave."  
  
"The two creatures that were in here vanished when I wanted them to leave," Aeryn agreed. "We will try this." She stood up and walked to the door. Not entirely sure on how to proceed, she remembered back to when she was linked with Talyn. She reached out with her mind and found the controls of the simulated door. She located the control that activated or deactivated the door's security and willed it to disengage. She pulled back her mind. The transition back to the virtual room came with a shock and she nearly fell backwards but John stood behind her and braced her.  
  
"I toggled the control," she said after she regained her equilibrium. Without waiting for his response, verbally or otherwise, she palmed the door open. As the door opened she looked back at him.  
  
"Hey, no shock therapy," John said. "Lead the way, Sundance."  
  
Aeryn smiled and stepped through the door into the corridor. She looked back to where John still stood in the virtual room and waited for him to join her. She watched John step through the door carefully. The moment his last foot left the virtual room he vanished.  
  
"Ah, hell, I still can't leave Dodge," Aeryn heard John say. She looked into the room and saw him standing near his refreshing chamber.  
  
She pondered the issue for a while. "John, what if you give me your hand and I pull you out of the room. If we are linked like that you should end up with me."  
  
"Yeah, but don't be surprised if that means you'll end up in my bathroom." He quickly made his way towards the door and stuck out his hand. Aeryn grabbed it and pulled him through the door.  
  
Again John found himself in his refreshing chamber and Aeryn found her hand empty again.  
  
"This is not working, Aer," John said as she stepped back into the room. "Besides, I doubt we could get out that way. This is all just an illusion anyway. If I'm to leave this place, it's because the simulation ends. If you guys found my body, why didn't you just pull the plug?"  
  
"The bioloid Scorpius told us that doing so would damage your mind in a way similar to the Living Death in Sebaceans."  
  
"So, that's not a real option, unless we can't find a way out of here." Seeing the look on Aeryn's face he grabbed her hand once again. "Aeryn, promise me that if we can't find a way out of this game, you just pull the plug on the computer. Either I wake up and RoboScorp was lied to again, or I end up in la-la land permanently, in which case you will have to kill me. Please, Aeryn, promise me you'll do that for me."  
  
If his voice wasn't enough to convey his plead, his eyes were. Aeryn knew he was right; he couldn't stay in this room. She looked into his blue eyes. "I promise I will. But I will also promise to do anything to get you out of here alive and healthy."  
  
Satisfied by her answer and relieved by it as well, he answered, "thank you Aeryn. Now let's figure out how to leave Oz." Again John's thumb found his way to his lower lip. "You gave the command to switch off the stun gun by the door. Couldn't you give a command to end the simulation in an orderly fashion?"  
  
"If I had a frelling clue how and where in the computer program the off command existed, I could do that; and I would have done so already," Aeryn replied tersely. "You are a much better tech than I am."  
  
"Yeah, well I'm not wearing that neural thingy," John answered. His eye fell on the data terminal. "Aer, could you reroute the access point you use to the data terminal?"  
  
"Maybe," Aeryn answered. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind again. She easily spotted the data terminal connection but it took a little more effort to find the connection of her neural interface link. Finally locating it, she completed the connection and pulled her mind back again. John stood right behind her and once again prevented her from falling.  
  
"Did it work?" John asked her when she regained her balance again.  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Well, let's see." John sat down in front of the terminal and noticed he had indeed access to a lot more sections. Quickly scanning the list he found main controls quite easily. Unfortunately, it proved a lot more difficult to find the exit command. He had to navigate a whole bunch of sub-sections before finally coming to the area that controlled the simulation's behavior.  
  
"Hmm, we're in the right neighborhood, but where's the damn on-off switch," John muttered mostly to himself. "Aeryn, how would you get out of this simulation if you didn't have to worry about me?"  
  
"Well, I am not supposed to leave without you," she answered. "Once you got out of the room, the simulation would have ended and I would automatically be disconnected."  
  
"What? So you might be stuck here as well?"  
  
"Don't be silly John, once Scorpius returns I am sure he will disconnect me from the computer. Which is why I need you to hurry up, because he must be on his way back right now."  
  
"Right, no pressure," John muttered. Trying to find a way out he, shifted through the list of commands. None of them looked like the power switch. '_Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way,_' he thought to himself. '_Perhaps the simulation does provide an exit, I'm just not able to get to it because I can't leave this room._' He navigated back to the parameters section of the simulator and removed the setting that obviously kept him in the room.  
  
"Aeryn, I've changed the simulation so I can leave this room with you."  
  
"And what good would that do?"  
  
"I think the simulation does provide an exit, one we can actually step through. It's obvious Scorpy would not allow that exit to be in this room. I think that's the sole reason I'm not s'posed to leave this room."  
  
John stood up and walked through the door and finally found himself in the corridor he had only been able to see from inside the virtual room.  
  
Aeryn immediately followed him out. "Right, where to now?"  
  
John shrugged. "Dunno. We'll just see where this hall leads to," he said pointing in one direction.  
  
Aeryn nodded and started walking in his proposed direction. It didn't take them long to find a bright white lit portal.  
  
"I'm guessing this is our exit," John said. He grabbed her hand and together they walked through the portal.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, computer room**  
  
A mere micron later Aeryn found herself in the computer room. She saw by John's rapid eye movements that he too had disengaged from the simulation. "I got him out, D'Argo. You can now disconnect him but do it quickly." Aeryn unplugged the neural interface and stuck it in a pocket, while D'Argo started to remove all the electrodes and the handful of tubes and needles from where they covered John's now twitching body.  
  
D'Argo completed disengaging the now trembling and sweating human. "Scorpius should be burned in boiling chuvak oil for doing this to John. Look at these holes. Where are some clothes so that I can stop the bleeding?" D'Argo growled as he watched each intravenous line tear through John's skin on its way out. John was rolling his head back and forth with the pain of removal and trying to yell but as of yet he couldn't get his mouth to move correctly or gain enough breath to emote.  
  
By this time, Aeryn had climbed up the rope to the ventilation duct and clambered in.  
  
"Did it go alright?" Chiana's slightly anxious voice came from beside her.  
  
"Yes, but not at all as we planned. It appears Scorpius had lied to the bioloid Scorpius about whether John could leave. Crichton wanted to get out; he did not want to be there at all." For a moment she bit her lip, contemplating if she should tell more. "When I first got in the virtual room, there were copies of you and me around him, plaguing him. They looked like they had been severely burned, almost dead. From John's reaction I understood that Scorpius had placed them there to remind him of our 'deaths'. He kept fighting though and at first he did not believe it was really me. But you can understand why he did not want to stay in that room."  
  
"So, how did ya convince him it was really you?" Chiana asked with a mischievous look on her face that clearly indicated she had the wrong idea.  
  
"None of your frelling business," was the only reply Aeryn gave her. Silently the couple watched how D'Argo tugged and rolled Crichton's totally limp body and finally managed to lift him off the metal slab.  
  
D'Argo carried his friend to the rope and tied it around his waist. By this time it looked like John had some movement in his arms but very little else available to him. The two women quickly hoisted him up and pulled him into the ventilation duct. Meanwhile, D'Argo picked up the now deactivated bioloid human and turned to the exit. Before he could take a step Braca and two security guards entered.  
  
Braca was aware how important the human was to Scorpius. "Do not shoot the human," he warned the guards in a whisper. "You," he continued more loudly while pointing at D'Argo, "place the human back on the platform or you will be killed where you stand."  
  
D'Argo growled for good measure but turned around to put the bioloid on the metal slab. He noticed the guards and Braca moved further into the room and couldn't help but smile a little. After he placed the bioloid on the metal slab he heard Aeryn jump down from the vent. He turned around and saw that she had incapacitated one of the guards and was now executing a Pantak Jab on Braca. At the same moment she connected with Braca, D'Argo's tongue lashed out to deal with the second guard who was aiming his pulse pistol at her. The three men where out in less than two microns.  
  
Aeryn caught the pulse riffle Chiana dropped from the ventilation duct and together with D'Argo, who had drawn his Qualta Blade, they ran through the door.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, ventilation duct**

Chiana watched her lover and Aeryn run out of the room while the first guard and Braca slowly got up again and turned around to the human. "It's just you and me now, old man," she said quietly to him. She grasped him under the arm pits and started to drag him through the duct. Her progress was being hindered both by John's dead weight as well as by his ineffectual struggles with numb limbs to assist her..  
  
"Crichton, you frellnik, stay still or it's going to take me arns to drag your eema all the way to the other end," Chiana said to him.  
  
"Bu' I ca' do 'is," John replied in a slurred voice, moving his arms and legs in a clearly uncontrolled manner, trying to prove he indeed could do it on his own.  
  
"You can, huh," Chiana asked. Deciding he would not stop moving she decided to prove him he couldn't do this on his own. "Fine, just follow me." She let go of him and crawled ahead a mere motra before turning around. As she expected, John still laid helplessly in the same spot, flailing his limbs in a desperate attempt to propel himself forward.  
  
Chiana sighed and crawled back to her helpless friend. "Will you now just stay still and allow me to drag you through this duct?" John looked at her, sighed and nodded. "Now stay still you drannit and we'll be out of here before you know it."  
  
"Pip," John said tentatively, "wha's a drannit?"  
  
"Forget the drannit, old man," she said.  
  
"Fine, fre' the drannit." That drew a laugh from the Nebari girl. "What?"  
  
"Nothing," she responded still laughing. "I don't think you'll ever want to know what a drannit is though."  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, corridors**  
  
While Chiana dragged the human behind her through the duct to a nearby room, where Noranti and Rygel were waiting, D'Argo and Aeryn were dealing with the other Peacekeepers, and basically distracting them. They fired at every Peacekeeper that got in their path while they made their way through the corridors. During the shooting and the running D'Argo called his ship and commanded it to head to and land in the secondary docking bay using stealth mode and maintain fully cloaked.  
  
Aeryn and D'Argo encountered a large number of guards blocking their path. D'Argo turned to Aeryn and said, "Aeryn, I am going to say something I have never been able to put in words. I... love shooting Peacekeepers." Aeryn smiled and together they opened fire, covering each other while they slowly made their way to the side corridor leading to the room the others were waiting for them.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, main docking bay**  
  
The Marauder landed smoothly on the spot reserved for Scorpius' personal ships. Inside Scorpius turned to his bioloid replica and said, "remember to take a separate route to my chambers; I do not want anyone to see the both of us walking in the same area. You can use the secret access hatch below the Marauder and the hidden passage into my private chamber. I will take care of the Kalish."  
  
The Kalish in question was getting more and more annoyed. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to warn Scorpius about the rescue plan. Even worse, the more she tried, the more annoying the human's voice became in her head. Every time she told him to go away or leave her alone she was met with refusals.  
  
'_Why can you just not leave me alone?_' she asked the human virus with her mind for seemingly the thousandth time.  
  
'_I'll leave you alone just as soon as I know the real me and the rest of Moya's crew have safely left the building. But don't worry Sputnik, I got nowhere else to go so you'll always have a friend with you._'  
  
'_Scorpius' programming is gone,_' she countered.  
  
'_Yes, because I only linked him to you're processing core. I'm actually hiding out within your programming. If you want to get rid of me you need to perform a complete reset of yourself. That's fine by me, since your memory banks will also be wiped so you still wouldn't be able to warn him._'  
  
Sikozu silently followed Scorpius. At least she would be near the real Scarran half-breed.  
  
"Why are you so quiet," Scorpius asked her. "My bioloid copy has told me you are very intelligent and you and he appear to have had many conversations."  
  
Sikozu looked at Scorpius, pondering on how to answer. Lying would not be an option, since Scorpius could detect lies due to changes in energy signatures.  
  
'_I'll normalize your energy signature. That way he won't detect your lie._'  
  
"I just wa..." she started to say and found once again to be unable to tell him about the rescue plan. She swallowed and continued, "I just do not know what to say to you. I was more than a little nervous to meet you and this has not lessened."  
  
Scorpius looked at her, letting the answer roll around his mind while keeping a careful eye on changes in her energy signature. There was no indication she was telling something untrue and he therefore accepted her reply.  
  
"Braca," Scorpius called for his flunky through the comms, "I have returned. I suspect everything is alright?"  
  
"Sir," the reply came, "the Luxan and the Peacekeeper traitor have penetrated this base and attempted to rescue the human. We were able to prevent them from taking him, but the two of them are now trying to escape this base."  
  
Scorpius had to exert much will power to not lose his temper. When he felt his voice would be calm, he replied, "Braca, allow them to escape. I have no use for them and as long as we still have the human in custody they can leave this base."  
  
In his mind he realized something else. The Peacekeeper traitor Braca referred to must be Officer Sun. It was unfortunate she had managed to survive but that was of no consequence anymore.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, corridor/storage room**  
  
Aeryn and D'Argo reached the room where the others were waiting. Because this route was unexpected, they managed to leave the Peacekeepers behind them instead of in front of them.  
  
"I'll guard this door," Aeryn said, signaling him he could enter the room.  
  
D'Argo opened the door and ran to the wall with the ventilation duct. He sheathed his Qualta Blade on the run and caught the human's prone body as Chiana and Noranti pushed it out of the duct. Rygel had already exited the duct when he saw D'Argo entering and made his way to the other door. Chiana and the old woman jumped out of the ventilation duct as well, Chiana immediately drawing her own pistol.  
  
"Hey guys, why are we so certain we can leave without anyone stopping us," John asked, now much more lucid though still lacking motor skills.  
  
"Crichton, your counterpart came up with the plan; we'll get out," Chiana said. Her jerky movements betrayed her.  
  
"Pip, you're hiding somethin'."  
  
"John, we are getting out of this place. The entire plan has been successful so far. Even the timing is perfect," D'Argo said in a calm voice. Chiana still moved anxiously and John could see her clearly from his vantage point in D'Argo's arms.  
  
"Pip, what's the plan?" John asked, figuring his Nebari friend was his best chance at getting the truth.  
  
"We-well, Crichton, we-we assume fek-face wi-will contact Braca and-and when he tells him tha-that D'Argo and Aeryn we-were caught while trying to-to rescue you and had to lea-leave you, Scorpius would let Aeryn and D'Argo escape," Chiana stammered out the plan.  
  
"Why would Braca say D and Aeryn left me?" John inquired.  
  
"Be-because he-he saw D'Argo pu-put your bi-bioloid copy ba-back where you we-were lying before."  
  
"Wait, my robotic twin is in the computer room? We can't just leave him there!"  
  
Aeryn heard the discussion. Seeing there were no Peacekeepers following them, she closed the door and walked over to where the group was still standing. "John, he will let himself get connected to the computer again and start destroying the wormhole data."  
  
"I'm glad he's going to that for me, seeing I forgot that before we departed, but if we leave him there he'll be destroyed. I don't want another death on my conscious," he ended in a whisper.  
  
Aeryn smiled and touched his face with her hand. "He said you would say that. He also said I should remind you that he is not really alive and that 'his batteries would run out' in a couple of monens. You, on the other hand are alive and have more lives to consider."  
  
John looked at her for a few microns while he mulled over the things she had said. She was right of course, the bioloid John was only partly alive and he did have other people to think of, like Aeryn's child. "Alright, let's get this show on the road," he conceded.  
  
At that Aeryn turned around to get to the other door opposite the one she had come in through to go and secure their exit path. She got halfway to the door when a cultured voice came from the other door.  
  
"What do we have here? I believe the human would call this a... 'jail break.'"


	8. Chapter 7: Home Before Dark

**Space Station Gammak Base, corridors**  
  
The bioloid Scorpius made his way through the maze of corridors quickly. He had changed his route and was now following the same one as his real counterpart. Shortly after exiting the Marauder, he had come to the unwelcome realization that his real counterpart was on a route that might put him in the path of the escaping crew of Moya.  
  
A number of factors had enabled him to find and unlock the wormhole secrets which had apparently been copied to the bioloid John. The John personality inside Sikozu had also carried that information but it was unlikely it had even realized he had been able to obtain the wormhole knowledge through this link. That was an unexpected side-effect, especially since the bioloid John was not aware of the knowledge at all. But he had soon realized he would not be able to use this knowledge at all. To use it required precise control of where and when the wormhole ends would open up; control that was apparently embedded into the real human's entire being.  
  
As soon as that realization had hit, he had changed his course to pursue his real counterpart and began to wipe the wormhole knowledge from his memory banks. Leaving it there could possibly lead to his counterpart finding it later. He increased his speed again, hoping to find him and the crew of Moya in time to help them out.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, storage room**  
  
Scorpius looked at the group standing before him. They had once again managed to liberate one of their crew and thwart all security precautions. "Braca," he said into the comms, "please send a number of guards to the storage room adjacent to the computer room. I have come across some uninvited guests."  
  
D'Argo noticed the Kalish standing close to the real Scorpius. "You betrayed us," he snarled at her. "I thought you could be trusted."  
  
Sikozu could only shake her head. All this time she had desperately wanted to betray them but was unable to do so; being accused of doing just that actually hurt her a little. It was their own fault they were caught and yet they dared to accuse her of being the cause of their situation. She was shook from her thoughts when Scorpius' hand closed around her throat.  
  
"You knew this was going on?" Scorpius growled, his Scarran half gaining control. "Why did you not tell me?"  
  
Sikozu was now physically unable to speak, with Scorpius' grip on her throat. Scorpius once again returned to his cultured voice, suppressing his Scarran heritage.  
  
"My dear Sikozu, you have reprogrammed my two bioloids, have you not?" Still not able to speak she just nodded as much was possible.  
  
Without losing his grip Scorpius turned around to look at the group. His eye fell on the human in the Luxan's arms. His vision confirmed this was indeed the real human and not the bioloid copy. He then remembered Braca had said the human was still in the computer room. Had they managed to rescue him from under that incompetent man's nose?  
  
"Braca," Scorpius asked into the comms, "what is the status of the human?"  
  
"Sir," his flunky replied, "the med techs have completed to reconnect him to the computer just a microt ago."  
  
Reconnected him? Either Braca was lying or they had switched the real human for the bioloid copy. But why would they have done that? As a diversion from the actual rescue attempt perhaps. But if the bioloid was reprogrammed, he might also be left there to wipe out the wormhole data.  
  
"No!" Scorpius yelled. "Disconnect him at once! Severe every connection to the computer! Use a pulse pistol if you have to, but disconnect him, quickly!"  
  
"Yes sir," Braca replied. Before the comms closed a pulse pistol could be heard firing.  
  
He turned to Sikozu again. "If the wormhole data is still intact I will link you to the computer together with the human as I had initially planned to do. I am sure the two of you will quickly solve the puzzles of wormhole technology. If the data has been destroyed, you serve no real purpose and you will be deactivated. The information regarding the Kalish resistance I can obtain from your memory banks later."  
  
"No! I will not allow it!" The bioloid Scorpius had appeared at the door and had heard the threat to Sikozu. Before he had finished his sentence he grabbed his real counterpart by the throat and thereby forcing him to let go of the Kalish female.  
  
Sikozu fell to the ground and coughed violently. In her mind she started to realize just how dangerous this man was. She would have been a captive or been deactivated if it wasn't for the intervention of the bioloid Scorpius. She also acknowledged the fact that Scorpius was only interested in the wormhole technology and had intended to link her to the computer. She was also sure his reasons for desiring information regarding the Kalish resistance was for his own personal gain.  
  
'_Finally, she sees the light,_' the human virus said in her head. '_Better late than never._'  
  
Sikozu ignored the voice for now and crawled towards the crew. Just as she reached them a dozen Peacekeepers entered through the door, aiming pulse pistols and rifles at the group.  
  
"Sir," Braca's voice came from the comms, "the human has been disconnected but there is severe damage to the connections. Techs say it will take an arn to repair the damages."  
  
Scorpius was still dealing with his bioloid counterpart. They had equal strength and agility but he knew how to deactivate his counterpart. His hand unerringly found the deactivation button and pressed it.  
  
With the bioloid copy now lying slack on top of him, Scorpius managed to roll him of him. He looked at the bioloid first, then to the crew before turning to the Peacekeepers. "Guards, place these people and this... imposter in a high security cell. At least four guards should remain to guard them. Braca", he continued in his comms, "I want those connections repaired in half an arn. See to it the techs complete the task within that time frame."  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, high security cell**  
  
The crew was locked up in a rather big cell in an even larger room filled with half a dozen cells of different sizes. The guards that were supposed to be watching them had apparently chosen to do so outside of the prison room. John was slowly regaining his mobility and moved around the cell, Aeryn following closely behind.  
  
"Sorry guys," he said to the crew. "I know it's my fault we all got locked up again."  
  
"Yeah, you acted like a drannit again," Chiana said with a smile and a wink. "I thought we discussed it?"  
  
"Yeah, Pip, but you know me. Speaking of drannits, could someone tell me what a drannit is?"  
  
"Yeah, Crichton likes to know what he wanted to frell," Chiana laughed.  
  
Everyone in the cell started to laugh, except John. John, realizing nobody would tell him now and that he apparently had made a fool of himself with that particular phrase, just sighed and turned around to Aeryn's smiling face. Not wanting to be the target of their joke any longer he continued to walk around the cell, if only to keep moving. Aeryn kept following him like a shadow.  
  
"Who's Granny?" John asked her.  
  
"Her name is Noranti," Aeryn answered, still smiling. "I do not trust her. I advise you to keep away from her, if only to avoid the smells."  
  
"Right, and I assume Sputnik here is our resident resistance fighter? What did you call her? Sikozu?"  
  
Sikozu overheard him and replied herself. "My name is Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu and I am part of the Kalish resistance. If it was not for me, these deficients would have never accomplished obtaining your location or the deactivation and reprogramming of the bioloid copies of you and Scorpius."  
  
"Well, Miss Britannica, I think you're kinda full of yourself. If you'd really been as smart as you think you are, you'd have stayed away from Grasshopper instead of coming with him." John was about to say something else when he noticed the Scorpius bioloid became active again. "I thought RoboScorp was deactivated?" he asked to nobody in particular. "Why is he active again?"  
  
"I reactivated him," Sikozu answered. "You can trust him. His programming still prevents him from deceiving you."  
  
"That answers the 'how' but I'm more interested in the 'why'," John said.  
  
"We could use him later to switch with the real Scorpius and get us out of here," Sikozu replied. Seeing the doubtful look on his face she continued, "it was your plan. I do not think it will work either."  
  
"What do you mean 'it was your plan'? I never talked to you about any escape plan, because I still don't have one."  
  
Sikozu sighed, realizing she would need to explain an embarrassing situation. "During my link with the two bioloids, John's programming managed to slip through my defenses while they were focused on removing Scorpius' programming. I now have your programming inside me. This... virus is being annoying by giving me advice I do not want."  
  
"Wait, wait, you got a Harvey?" John asked while a grin started to form. "Oh, this is good! So, what do you call your mental partner? Please tell me you didn't pick Clarence. I hate that name."  
  
"**It** suggested the same thing," Sikozu answered. "**It** also promised **it** would leave me alone once you are all free so I did not see a reason to choose a name."  
  
The bioloid Scorpius chose that moment to interrupt. "Sikozu, you must tell him it is imperative he removes every bit of himself."  
  
'_What? Why?_' John's voice sounded in her mind.  
  
"Why?" Sikozu relayed the question, admittedly being curious herself. The real human also showed considerable interest in this request.  
  
"During my link with you, I received a large amount of information regarding wormholes. Information that is to be kept inside John at all cost."  
  
'_I don't have wormhole knowledge. Scorpy couldn't copy that from the real me to the bioloid me._'  
  
"The virus says he does not have that knowledge because Scorpius was unable to transfer that knowledge to the bioloid."  
  
"That is what both Scorpius and I have assumed. It appears the Ancients have not hidden but rather encoded the information."  
  
"So, there's a lock but you don't have the key."  
  
"Exactly John. This was the reason the bioloid John did not seem to posses the wormhole knowledge even if it was present in his memory."  
  
"Then how did you find out the knowledge was copied?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"I could not tell you. That particular piece of information has been removed from my memory as a precaution. I do know I was able to obtain it because of the link between Sikozu and myself and the fact that John's programming had penetrated hers. There were other factors that led me to the information but I do not know which."  
  
"I'm not complaining or anything, but why are you so worked up about Scorpy getting all the crap that's in my head."  
  
"John, after I obtained the information I began to realize the full extend of wormholes and the danger they harbor. One small error could have catastrophic consequences for the entire universe. Wormholes are only safe for the Ancients and you, John. The Ancients have given you all elements required to safely harness and control the power of wormholes. It is incorporated into your very being, not just DNA and memory. I have already removed all the equations from my memory banks and it is important that it is removed from Sikozu as well."  
  
Aeryn looked away. The whole discussion about wormholes brought back the memories of the other John and his death, also to keep wormhole tech from falling into the wrong hands. She did not want this to happen a second time and certainly not because of wormholes.  
  
"So, I'm guessing we will have to obtain or destroy the bioloid me as well, just to make sure Grasshopper doesn't get the info from him and screws the whole universe."  
  
"Indeed John. First, however, we must get out of this cell."  
  
"Any ideas?" John asked him. It felt strange to work with the man instead of against him.  
  
"I know the codes of this facility; I should be able to open the lock."  
  
"Don't you think Scorpy will have changed the codes if he wants to keep you in here?"  
  
"He has no reason to do so. He deactivated me and will have assumed the only means of reactivating me would be the way he is used to, which is to connect me to a bioloid control device. He would not have realized Sikozu's ability to link to me directly and a normal bioloid control device is too big to carry with you without anyone seeing it."  
  
During his speech he had moved to the cell's door control and tapped the keyboard. A moment later the cell door opened. Scorpius immediately strode over to a well hidden compartment in the wall opposite the door to the prison room. In the compartment were a number of pulse pistols and rifles. D'Argo, Chiana, Scorpius, Aeryn and John all grabbed a weapon, effectively emptying the compartment.  
  
"Grasshopper, do I want to know why this compartment is here?"  
  
"Scorpius is firm believer in being prepared for any eventualities. There are other compartments as well as passageways hidden throughout the entire station. We will use one of them to get out of this prison room."  
  
Scorpius walked back into the cell and tapped twice on a panel in the wall at the far right corner. A section of the floor popped up as a result, eliciting some gasps from the crew and Scorpius smiled inwardly. He watched as they one by one entered the darker corridor. John entered the cell just before Aeryn and closed the door after she entered the cell as well. If the guards would come in, they would find a closed cell door but no prisoners.  
  
Scorpius waited until John and Aeryn had disappeared into the dark and hidden corridor and followed them in as the last person so he could close the hatch again. It would take some time for Scorpius to explain to the guards where the panel to open the secret doorway was located and how to use the mechanism to open it, buying them valuable time.  
  
"Can I ask something," Chiana asked standing next to D'Argo in some kind of room where several secret corridors met from various directions. She held up her pulse pistol. "How are we going to kill fek-face with these things? And how do we even know if fek-face is the real fek-face?"  
  
"I could tell the difference between the real Scorpius and other bioloid copies," Scorpius replied. "I do not know if we can kill him. We would have only a single opportunity and pulse pistols are nearly harmless to him, even if we would all fire simultaneously."  
  
"I may have the solution to that problem," Sikozu said. At the curious looks she continued, "I am... genetically engineered to kill Scarrans by emitting an intense radiation that specifically destroys their heat-producing gland. The radiation should also kill Scorpius since he still possesses a heat-producing gland."  
  
"I admit it'd be great if we can get rid of Nosferatu," John said, "but it's not a priority. Our priority is to get my robotic twin and then get the hell out of Dodge."  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, computer room**  
  
Scorpius stood at the entrance to the computer room and observed the techs working franticly to repair the damage within the time frame he had given them. He could see there was no way to improve the efficiency of the task but that they would not meet the schedule. He motioned Braca, who stood inside the room to supervise the techs, to come to him. "Braca," Scorpius said softly when his sidekick had joined him, "the techs are granted an additional half arn to complete this. I think it would be wise not to tell them now... keep them motivated."  
  
Braca nodded. "Yes sir." Scorpius gave a curt nod back, turned and left the techs and Braca alone. In his mind he replayed the last arn. Things were beginning to make more sense now, especially why the Kalish had been so quiet. She must have been afraid he would find out about her interfering with the two bioloids' programming. That would explain why it hadn't appeared to be a lie when she explained him why she had been quiet; she really had been nervous.  
  
Making his way to his private chamber he continued his ponderings. There was the issue of how she exactly had achieved to get a bioloid control device aboard Moya, without either of the bioloids noticing. The control devices where not very small and could not be hidden on anyone. No, it would have been impossible for her to carry it with her to Moya without his bioloid counterpart noticing it, let alone be connected to one. Even the deactivation button would not have helped anyone as it was keyed to his DNA. So, knowing his bioloid self had not been deactivated with the button and that it would not allow to be connected to a control device, what would one be left with? A smaller, more advanced control device was a possibility. The crew had been searched thoroughly so none of them had that device with them now. Unless... could it be the Kalish had created such an advanced bioloid that it would be able to link to another bioloid and deactivate and/or reprogram it? If that was the case...  
  
"Guards," Scorpius said into his comms more calmly than he was feeling. "Make sure the Scorpius imposter is removed from the room and transferred to the cell two tiers below." How could he not have realized that before? If they had succeeded in reactivating his counterpart, they could be well on there way off this station!  
  
"Sir," the reply came through the comms a moment later, "the prisoners have escaped."  
  
Scorpius growled. "How is that possible? I ordered you to stand guard, did I not?"  
  
"Sir," the same Peacekeeper replied, "we thought we could wait outside the prison room. They could not have left that room without anyone of us noticing. There were four guards at the entrance at all times."  
  
"Yet, they seem to have escaped," Scorpius replied. Then he remembered the precautions he had taken should he end up in one of the cells. The bioloid was fully instructed on these precautions. "Enter the cell the prisoners were in and go to the far right corner." Scorpius waited for the guard to notify him he was in place. "At the wall, just a dench above the floor and two denches away from the bars is a small panel, less than half a dench in width and height. Tap it twice and a section of the floor will pop up, revealing a secret corridor. Follow this corridor until you reach a room. Take the fourth corridor from the left on the opposite wall from where you entered. Send a secondary team to the docking bay. I assume I will not have to tell you the human must be captured alive?"  
  
"Understood sir."  
  
Scorpius growled a second time. He turned again and quickly made his way to the docking bay.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, secret corridor**  
  
The crew made there way through the corridors, following the bioloid Scorpius' directions until they reached what appeared to be a dead end. Scorpius made his way to the front and again tapped twice on a well hidden panel. The wall opened up and the crew quietly entered the room, all realizing they were now in the open again.  
  
Their surroundings were unfamiliar to them, except for Scorpius. He saw the questioning looks on their faces. "This is the main storage room where all confiscated property is kept. This would mean all your property should be here as well and quite possibly the bioloid John." Scorpius scanned the room's many boxes and crates and walked to the crate with a label indicating it contained property confiscated today. John and Aeryn were the first to join him as he opened the crate.  
  
"Winona!" John exclaimed upon seeing his favorite pulse pistol. "Oh baby, daddy has missed you so much!" He tossed the pulse pistol he currently carried away and holstered his girl. Realizing that leaving a loaded pulse pistol was both a waste of good chakan oil as well as giving the Peacekeepers another gun to point at him he grabbed the other pistol again and stuck it in the waist band of his leathers.  
  
Aeryn reacquainted herself with her knife, grabbed a second pulse pistol and also stuck it in her waist band. To her surprise the neural interface was also among the contents of the crate. Grabbing it she asked Scorpius, "why did Scorpius not take this back?"  
  
"I doubt Scorpius has had time to look over your possessions and he will not have noticed his neural interface is missing. The guards who confiscated all of this will not have realized what the device was and just stored it here. Do not bother taking it with you; he can have a new one made for him in less than two arns."  
  
"Yes, but maybe we can use it in another situation." Aeryn stuck the interface in her pocket.  
  
Chiana in the mean time had grabbed her smaller pistol, D'Argo got his Qualta Blade and Rygel seated himself on his thronesled, glad he wouldn't have to crawl again.  
  
Scorpius, Noranti and Sikozu had had no possessions and waited for the crew to get theirs back.  
  
"Any idea where my robotic twin might be?"  
  
"He should be in this room," Scorpius replied. He looked around carefully but it wasn't until he scanned the room a third time that he noticed it seemed smaller than it should be. He strode to the far wall and studied it closely. After a few microts he found what appeared to be the same kind of panel used for the secret door mechanism. He tapped it twice and stepped back slightly when the entire wall rose up, revealing a smaller section with perhaps a dozen Scorpius bioloids. Amongst them was also the John bioloid.  
  
"So this is where he stores us," Scorpius said more to himself than anything else. "My dear Sikozu," he continued as he turned around to her, "can you link to the human bioloid and erase all his memories?"  
  
"Yes, but we need to separate him from the other bioloids. When so many of them are so close it becomes difficult for me to locate the right bioloid."  
  
Scorpius picked up the human bioloid and moved him to the center of the room. While Sikozu began her task John had formulated a plan in his head.  
  
"Scorp, does Grasshopper depend much on these robots?"  
  
"Yes John. He uses them on many occasions considered dangerous or when he has to deal with something in one location when another... problem has to be taken care of in another location."  
  
"So, if we destroy him, he's going to need time to build new ones, correct?"  
  
"Yes, but I must warn you that these bioloids will emit a warning signal when they are disconnected from the control device as well as when you try to destroy them or the device. Even Sikozu should not link to them as the device will detect the secondary link."  
  
"I see," John said in apparent thought while his thumb found his way to his lower lip.  
  
"Oh, for the love of Cholak," Aeryn muttered. All the signs indicating one of her human's fahrbot and dangerous plans forming were present. "John," she asked out loud, "what fahrbot plan are you thinking about now?"  
  
John turned his head to her and grinned. She could read him like a book and he reveled in that knowledge. He turned his head to Scorpius. "What would be the best way to destroy them all at once?"  
  
Scorpius pondered the question momentarily. "The control device could be instructed to initiate a self destruct sequence on all the bioloids. The self destruct will take less than two microts to be completed but programming the device will also warn Scorpius."  
  
"Hence he will come here and we can get rid of him. That is, if Sputnik is sure she wants to try it." John looked straight in her green eyes. "Are you sure you want to take that risk?"  
  
Sikozu nodded. "Yes. He is a dangerous man and while I admire his commitment in fighting the Scarrans, I do not approve of his cruel ways or the possible destruction of the universe."  
  
"Right, so how do we do this? Anything special you need?"  
  
"I require two microts for the radiation to become potent. You must not look upon me at that moment." She looked at the bioloid Scorpius. "Especially you." She looked back to the human. "Once the radiation has stopped I will appear unconscious for a quarter arn at minimum, at most a half arn. Someone will have to carry me out."  
  
"My dear, I will personally carry you to freedom," Scorpius said softly as he caressed her cheek with one hand and looked into her eyes.  
  
"Wait a minute," John said, "is this radiation thing dangerous to us?"  
  
"No, but if you look at it you might go blind. Depending on the amount of exposure this could be permanent. For Scorpius it will be dangerous. Even if he is a bioloid, he still shares the exact same genetic and biological make up."  
  
"Right. I propose Xerox-Scorpy is going on the look out while Miss Britannica deals with the robots here. RoboScorp can than see whether or not the real Skeletor shows up, warn Sputnik so she can power up her internal ray-gun while the rest of us hides away behind the crates here. It's a simple plan and there's no chance of it getting screwed up, so prepare for trouble."  
  
'_Hey Sputnik, I think it's time I move out. Should something go wrong and you do get captured, Scorpy-Sue will not get the wormhole data._'  
  
'_I am sorry I did not listen to you from the beginning._'  
  
'_It's okay; you had no reason to do so. Go do your stuff and once you're out of here kick some Scarran ass for me. I'm sure Moya's crew here will help you as much as possible._'  
  
'_Thank you. For what it is worth, though you can be incomprehensible at times, you, John Crichton, are not as deficient as I claimed. How much time do you think you require to remove yourself completely?_'  
  
'_I already removed a large portion of my memory, only the memories of the last two arns are present. In about 30 microts I will be gone completely._'  
  
"Sikozu, is everything alright?" Scorpius looked worriedly at the Kalish girl.  
  
Upon hearing his voice, Sikozu snapped back to reality. "Yes, I am alright. The human virus is nearly complete in removing himself from my systems. He was saying goodbye."  
  
"So now I'm the only one with a mental companion again. Although, now I think about it, I haven't seen or heard from him since this whole fiasco started."  
  
"No John, but I can guarantee you will hear from him soon. After you successfully blew up the Command Carrier, Scorpius realized you must have had the neural clone because you were able to lie to him without showing so in your energy signature. To avoid your clone to interfere again, he has been reprogrammed to be loyal to Scorpius. He will make an appearance as soon as Scorpius' life is in danger."  
  
"Oh great, Harvey 2.0. So what, he'll pop up any second now, seeing we are planning on killing Scorpy?"  
  
"Possibly. Do not worry, there is no chip implanted, so his control over you is very limited. You are still stronger than him. But he will persist and try to... convince you Scorpius should be saved. You must try to ignore him."  
  
D'Argo started to feel restless. They were still in enemy territory but for some fahrbot reason they all insisted on talking, even though he had learned the importance of discussing a battle plan before taking action. "I think we should talk less and start the attack."  
  
John chuckled at that. "Yeah, D, I think you're right."  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, docking bay**  
  
Scorpius waited impatiently in the docking bay near the secret hatch the first team should emerge from. Scorpius had explained to the team inside where the panel to open the door from the inside was located. The secondary team had searched the docking bay but could not find any evidence the crew had been there. There were no vessels missing and the docking bay supervisor was certain no unknown vessel had arrived or left during the six arns of his shift.  
  
The first security team should appear soon, either with or without the Moya crew. If they'd emerge without the Moya crew Scorpius was certain they were still on the base. The secret corridors would only lead to his private chamber, a storage room, the other prison cells and rooms, this docking bay and the secret hatch below his Marauder. The secondary docking bay could not be reached, his Marauder was still in its place, and the access panel of the secret corridor to his private chamber had an alert on it to warn him should someone try to enter there.  
  
Scorpius was shook from his reverie when the wall slid sideways and the first security team emerged. "Sir, we have not found the prisoners," the team leader said as he saluted Scorpius.  
  
Scorpius gave a curt nod back to acknowledge the salute. In his mind he went over the most logical location the crew could have gone to. It was highly unlikely they'd go to the storage room although his bioloid counterpart would be aware that is were they had stored all of the crew's weapons and other property. But the route to the nearest alternate nexus of secret corridors would be too long for them to travel undetected as well as increase their chance of detection.  
  
So that left one of the other prison rooms. Most were unused and could be freely entered and exited without the risk of being noticed. And it had a much shorter route to an alternate nexus of secret corridors from one particular prison room, with corridors leading to the secondary docking bay.  
  
"They will have gone to prison room four on this tier," he informed the security teams. "From there they could easily make their way to the secondary docking bay. I want one team at the docking bay and one team will go with me to the prison room."  
  
After the two team leaders affirmed the orders they split up. Scorpius and his team were near the prison room when the data pad in his pocket warned him there was something wrong with the bioloids. He pulled out the device to see what the problem was exactly. There had been various false alarms since he had added the human bioloid to the bioloid control device. The system was not designed for any other bioloid than his.  
  
To his shock the device informed him the control device was being reprogrammed to initiate a self destruct on all his bioloids. A further inquiry showed the human bioloid was disconnected. Could it be the human bioloid had not been deactivated as he had thought? Had it managed to reprogram the bioloid control device to initiate the self destruct? "Guards, continue to the prison room. If the crew is not in the room, continue in the corridor until you reach the next side corridor on your right. On the right side of the wall just before the corridor near the floor will be another panel. Tap it twice and a section of the wall will slide away. Follow the secret corridor until you reach a large room. Take the second corridor on your right. It will lead to the secondary docking bay."  
  
Scorpius turned around and quickly made his way to the storage room. It was unlikely he would be able to prevent the destruction of his bioloids, but he wanted to preserve the human bioloid if at all possible. It could only aid him in his quest to bring down the real human should he escape.  
  
**Space Station Gammak Base, main storage room**  
  
Sikozu disconnected her link from the bioloid control device. It was wholly inadequate if it would have needed to control her. In fact, it seemed it was barely able to support any bioloid other than Scorpius. It made her wonder how someone barely able to build a control device had managed to create a bioloid that nearly succeeded in invading her programming. Actually, it had succeeded if you counted the human bioloid. She looked at it and a thought occurred to her. "Would Scorpius not use the human bioloid to learn more about Crichton?"  
  
Scorpius, from his position to look out for the real Scorpius, turned his head momentarily to her before turning back. "Quite so I presume."  
  
"Should we take him with us or destroy him as well?" Sikozu asked.  
  
John looked at his bioloid and sighed. "I hate to say this, but it would be best to destroy him. If we have to take him with us, two people would be carrying someone and seriously be hampered if we ran into any Peacekeepers on our way out."  
  
"Agreed," D'Argo said, with a hint of sadness.  
  
"Right, do it," Aeryn said to Sikozu before she turned her head. She had no desire to see John Crichton die and she focused her gaze on the real man.  
  
Sikozu nodded and linked with the human bioloid again. She had already detected a device had been implanted when she had first linked to the human. The device would release a substance that would completely disintegrate him in a matter of microts.  
  
Now that was odd. The bioloid seemed completely devoid of any programming and memory. Had Scorpius decided not to take any chance and completely disabled him?  
  
She gave a mental shrug, activated the device and disconnected again. She watched as the bioloid seemed to collapse in on itself before the skin started to disappear. Two microts later the human bioloid was completely gone.  
  
"He is coming. He has not detected me," Scorpius said as he moved and ducked behind a crate that would add some protection from whatever Sikozu was going to do.  
  
The rest of the crew took up defensive positions in order to distract the Scarran half-breed should Sikozu not be ready when he entered. Sikozu moved to the center of the room and helds out her arms to the sides. Slowly she started to rise up in the air, a rose colored glow emanating from her. The glow started to become more intense and shot out from her body just as Scorpius entered the room and the crew ducked behind their chosen shields.  
  
Scorpius stands motionless near the entrance, unable to breathe or move. Smoke starts to rise from his cooling chamber before it pops out of his head. He starts to gag and cry out before finally collapsing on the floor. Sikozu continues to emanate the radiation for another five microts before it stops and she too collapses.  
  
John approaches the fallen man with Aeryn right beside him. "Down and out for the count." He turns his head to Sikozu and the bioloid Scorpius who had made his way to her in record time. "How's Sputnik?"  
  
"She is still breathing. She will be alright." He picks her up carefully. "I suggest we leave now." He walked over to the hidden corridor they used to get here, with the crew following him.  
  
John noticed they walked right back to where they had come from but he knew enough about the bioloid Scorpius to realize he would never jeopardize the woman he held in his arms and followed him without asking anything. When they came to the secret room with its many corridors he noted Scorpius was now taking another corridor and not the one leading back to their prison.  
  
After they had walked some distance, Scorpius stopped.  
  
"What's up Grasshopper?"  
  
"I think Scorpius might have posted some guards where we are going. I do not know of another way out though; at least not one with such a low chance of detection."  
  
"Would this help?" John held up a comms badge. "I grabbed it from Scorpy before we left. You could use it to draw the Peacekeepers away. Have them all go to the storage room where Scorpy is now."  
  
"Good thinking John." He carefully placed Sikozu on the floor with her back against a wall and accepted the comms badge John held out to him. "This is Scorpius. I want all security teams to converge on the main storage room. I have located the prisoners and entrapped them."  
  
He handed the comms badge back to John, picked up the Kalish again and resumed his walk to the end of the corridor. D'Argo moved from behind him and tapped the panel Scorpius indicated twice, holding his Qualta Blade at the ready as the wall slid open.  
  
"Clear," he said softly after checking in all directions for possible threats and not finding any. He walked further into the room, while the others emerged as well. Scorpius indicated the door and D'Argo walked to it and once again checked if the coast was clear. Seeing nobody in the corridor he motioned for the others to follow.  
  
Scorpius whispered, "to the left Ka D'Argo, until we reach the corridor on the right. On the right wall just before that corridor near the floor is another panel."  
  
D'Argo nodded and strode ahead. When he reached the first corridor on the right he quickly scanned for the panel. At that moment the ship wide comms activated.  
  
"Hey Scorpy, remember you were told you shouldn't mess with wormhole tech? Well, guess what. I'm goin' to make sure you won't. I've entered the computer system and managed to initiate a self destruct on the computer core."  
  
The Moya crew, as well as Scorpius looked surprised at John. "Don't look at me! I've got nothin' to do with this."  
  
"Oh," John's voice continued through the intercom, "did I mention that the destruction of the core will also shutdown all major systems on this piece of space junk? After the core will self destruct, which by the way will be inexactly fifty microts, this floating hunk of metal will be without life support and docking controls. I'm guessing you'll have about a half arn or so after that before this station will be unable to support any breathing being."  
  
D'Argo in the mean time had managed to find the panel and tapped it twice to open the secret door. Just before John entered, Braca's voice came through the ship wide comms. "All security personnel converge on the computer room. I want all corridors leading from or to that room guarded. One team will enter the computer room and secure it. A tech team will also enter the tech room and prevent the destruction."  
  
"You know," John said as the door closed behind him, "I completely forgot about that wormhole stuff. I don't know how this is all possible but if he indeed manages to wipe that data and incapacitate this piece of metal we're very lucky."  
  
"Indeed John," Scorpius replied. "Even more lucky, now that all security personnel will have vacated the secondary docking bay. We should now have a safe route to Ka D'Argo's ship. Turn to the right at the next intersection, Ka D'Argo."  
  
After a few more turns through the maze of hidden corridors, they finally reached the door leading to the secondary docking bay. Like the previous time, D'Argo tapped the panel to open the door and held his Qualta Blade at the ready. Surveying the bay indicated it was completely vacated. The crew followed D'Argo who said something in Luxan into his comms. Lo'La appeared, lowered the boarding ramp and powered up.  
  
"Grasshopper," the intercom suddenly came online. "Been nice working against ya! Three... two... one... boo--" The intercom remained silent for about two microts. "Attention all personnel. Evacuation procedures have now commenced. Please --" the remainder of the messages was lost as Lo'La closed the hatch and lifted off the deck and sped out of the docking bay into open space.  
  
**arns later, Moya, Center Chamber**  
  
"That explains why I could no longer detect his programming just before I initiated the self destruct," Sikozu said, with her hand in that of Scorpius. "I had assumed the real Scorpius had not desired to take a chance on him interfering but now I realize it might have been caused by the sudden disconnection, much like what would have happened if we had disconnected Crichton while he was still interacting in the virtual environment. Or perhaps he transferred himself to gain more control."  
  
"Whether he deliberately moved to the computer core or not, he saved our asses and got rid of the data," John said with his arm draped casually over Aeryn's shoulder, who sat right next to him. Her hand was lying on his thigh, every now and then gently squeezing it.  
  
"John, did the mental clone try to persuade you to save Scorpius?" Scorpius asked him.  
  
John sighed "Yeah. He's still at it but so far I've been able to suppress him."  
  
"Maybe I can help you get rid of him," Sikozu said. "The neural interface that was used to link with the computer can be easily transformed so it can be used to purge the neural clone without harming you."  
  
"How long would it take you to alter the device?" Aeryn asked. With her hand now moving along his thigh he started to have trouble focusing on the discussion.  
  
"Not so long, perhaps two arns if I can find the necessary parts. I will make an inventory tomorrow and work on the transformation. If I need additional parts I will let you know."  
  
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'd like to go to bed right now," Chiana said after casting a short look and wink at D'Argo.  
  
Aeryn had caught it and smiled. "I think John would enjoy the benefits of a bed as well." At John questioning look she continued, "you may even need someone to... tick you in."  
  
John chuckled. "It's 'tuck' someone in, Aer. But yeah, I think I need that... a lot." Damn, her hand had traveled real close to his crotch. Was it really getting hot in here?  
  
"Frelling body breeders," Rygel grumbled as he floated out of the chamber on his thronesled.  
  
"Sputnik, I assume you're gonna take care of Scorpius'... uhm... sleeping arrangements?" As John completed the turn of his head to face the couple he noticed they were already gone. "You think we talked too much?"  
  
"You always talk too much John," Aeryn said with a smile. She took his hand. "Come on Erpman, time to tuck you in."  
  
Chiana watched the two walking out of Command and sighed. She turned to D'Argo. "Isn't that frelling wonderful? It's my suggestion and we're the last to go."  
  
D'Argo smiled at her. "And yet you insist on staying here and talk to me. Chiana, you know I am a man of action so you understand why I am going to do this." He picked her up, eliciting a squeal from her, as he carried her to his quarters.  
  
**The End**


End file.
